Pokemon: An Adventure to Last a Lifetime
by Cozmik.boi
Summary: Three friends depart on a Pokémon training journey to become Champion with a friendship that will last a lifetime! But could something stand in their way?
1. The Forest

Chapter One

"Hey, slowpoke! I beat you by _thirty-one minutes_ this morning! Up your game!" came a yell. Zack rolled his eyes. Alex enjoyed beating him because it almost never happened. "You said 9:00. I'm technically ten minutes early," he called back. "Yeah, well, then I was-" Alex paused, counting in his head. "Forty-one minutes early! Hah!"

Zack Austin and Alex Gunter had been friends since they were four. Now twelve years old, Zack had hazel eyes, and Alex had blue. Zack had caramel-colored hair swept to the side, Alex had platinum blonde spiked in the front. Zack played the guitar, Alex played the saxophone.

They did everything together, from eating dinner to catching their first Pokémon. They were about to attempt the latter. Zack's parents had just granted permission for them to go Pokémon searching in the Ilex Forest. They were both using their parents' Pokémon, a Growlithe and a Marill, as they were just now going to catch some of their own.

Zack suppressed a smile at Alex's logic. "You could have just added ten to your earlier time."

Alex then stopped gloating and stared at Zack for a few moments. Then, he said, "Let's just go to the forest. Did you bring the Pokéballs?"

"Yes."

"Okay, great. Race to that tree?" Alex and Zack were the fastest runners in Azalea Town, so Alex always wanted to race despite the many times they had tied. Zack pretended to think about it, then shook his head. "No racing, but I think you'll be able to beat any Pokémon once you see what I brought." Zack said. Alex raised an eyebrow. "Okay, then we'll walk. Fast."

Zack grinned and sprint-walked the route to the Ilex Forest.

"Hey, I have a surprise for you." he said.

"What is it?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a-"

"Get on with it!"

Zack knew Alex loved surprises, so he had bought him a special present for their first Pokémon searching trip. He took something spherical out of his pocket. It was wrapped in plain white paper with drawings of Pokéballs on it. "Happy birthday, Alex." Alex began screaming louder than an Exploud. "NO! YOU DIDN'T! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!! AAAHHH! YOU'RE THE BEST FRIEND I EVER HAD!!!!"

Zack just grinned as Alex yelled and stared in shock at the Ultra Ball he had just unwrapped. He had used nine months' allowance for it, but seeing his best friend leap up and down in joy made everything worth it. Such as the example at the moment, the two friends balanced each other out. Alex was the loud but endearing kind of guy, while Zack was the strong, quiet type.

"I'm glad you like it. Save it for a very special Pokémon, 'kay?" Zack said. Alex was apparently now speechless after screaming his head off, and Zack chuckled. Then, he noticed they had arrived at Ilex Forest.

"Three Pokéballs each. I don't advise using your Ultra Ball."

"Got it. Meet you back here in, what, an hour?" Alex asked.

"I was thinking we should stick together, seeing as we're still pretty new at this." Zack answered.

"True."

They walked into the forest. "Do you see any Pokémon?" Zack said.

"As of two seconds ago? No. What Pokémon do you want to catch?"

Zack thought about it for a moment, then said, "I just want one that can beat most Pokémon, really."

"I would prefer a fire or water type. But I eventually want one that can fly. That's really what I want."

"How about a battle with whatever Pokémon we catch?"

"Sure."

They continued their walk in silence, always in the lookout for Pokémon. Zack spotted a Caterpie, which neither of them wanted, and the occasional Pidgey, but otherwise, nothing. Then...

"Hey, look!" Alex exclaimed. A tan and pink worm Pokémon peeked out from under a bush ten feet away. "It's a Weedle!"

"Don't tell me you-"

"Go! Growlithe!" The fire type Pokémon burst out of the Pokéball that Alex had thrown. It growled and looked at Alex, awaiting his command.

"Use Ember!" Growlithe shot a ball of flame at the Weedle, only for it to jump to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. The Weedle then shot sticky string out of its mouth that enveloped the Growlithe.

"Agh! What is that?!" Alex cried.

"I think it's String Shot!" Zack replied.

The Growlithe was having trouble moving. The Weedle could have escaped at any time, but it seemed to be waiting for something. "Growlithe, use Scratch on the string then on the Weedle!" Alex yelled.

Whatever the Weedle was waiting for was distracting it, as Alex's attack plan worked perfectly. The Growlithe freed itself and leapt at the bug type Pokémon, landing a direct hit on its back.

Then Growlithe, without waiting for Alex's shout, shot an Ember straight for the Weedle, leaving it with very low HP.

Zack noticed it first. "Alex, throw the Pokéball!"

Zack tossed a Pokéball to Alex. He reacted in a split second and snapped the red and white ball towards the Weedle. The Pokémon just had time to realize what was happening before the ball hit it.

White light engulfed it, sucking it into the Pokéball. It shook once, twice, then...

 _Click._

Alex had caught his first Pokémon.


	2. The Cave

Chapter 2

Alex and Zack stared at the Pokéball sitting on the ground in front of them. "I caught it! I actually caught it! I... I... WOOHOOOOO!" Alex whooped in joy and scooped up the Pokéball.

Zack smiled. "Nice job. You are now the proud trainer of..."-he paused for emphasis-"a Weedle."

Alex smiled even wider at him. Then Zack asked, "So why did you want a Weedle? They're kinda weak bug Pokémon."

Alex's grin turned into a dreamy look. "Dude, do you know what these things evolve into?" he said. "Yeah, a Kakuna, then a Beedrill. Why?"

"Because Beedrills are one of the top ten fastest Pokémon in all of the regions!" Alex said excitedly. "These things are _beasts,_ man!"

Then they both went quiet as they watched the bushes rustle to their left. Zack caught a flash of bright yellow, and out of the corner of his eye, he could see that all of the color had drained from Alex's face.

"RUN!" Alex yelled as he recalled Growlithe. Zack heard a hiss behind him as he sprinted towards the exit to the forest with Alex right behind him.

They burst out of the edge of the forest. "Is it gone?" Zack asked. "I don't think it's following us anymore." Alex replied.

"What was it? You looked like you knew what it was."

Alex looked at him with an evil grin on his face. "That," he said, "was a Beedrill."

Zack went pale as Alex burst out laughing. "Come on, let's go home."

 **~At Alex's house~**

"Mom! Dad! Look what I got!" Alex hollered with glee as the boys burst in to his house.

"Coming, coming!" came a muffled reply. Alex's mother came out of the doorway from the living room.

She smiled and hugged Alex. After pulling away, her eyes found the Pokéball in Alex's hand. Her eyes widened and she turned around. "JEFF! GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE! ALEXIE CAUGHT A POKÉMON!"

Zack smirked at the name she gave Alex. He knew that Alex hated being called anything other than his name, and he saw his face redden when she said it.

Zack then felt a twang of jealousy for his friend. He pushed it away, telling himself, _Just because he caught his first Pokémon before you doesn't mean he's better._

"Come on, come on, let's get a look at it!" Alex's dad came into the room, and he and his wife looked at the Weedle, which was squealing happily. They had found out it was a boy, and Alex had been talking nonstop about the Weedle ever since.

The doorbell rang. "I'll get it." Zack heard.

Alex's mother hustled towards the front door and opened it. She opened it up to reveal a familiar- looking girl wearing a white blouse and jeans.

"Hey, Lea!" Zack called. Smiling, he walked over to the doorway. "Come in, come in. Sorry for all the excitement, but Alex just caught his first Pokémon!"

Lea had known Zack since her family had moved to Azalea town. She was a cute girl, and sometimes Zack wondered if Alex had a crush on her.

Lea's eyes widened in surprise and she broke out in a smile. "So did I! I was just taking a walk on Route 33 when this little guy popped out of a tree and landed on my head!" She pulled a Pokéball out of her pocket and tossed it on the ground.

The Pokémon burst out in a flash of white light, and Zack's brain registered a pink body and green appendages. He said, "A Hoppip? That's a perfect Pokémon for you!" The Hoppip looked around and said, "Hop?" Zack had a small smile on his face as he turned to Lea.

"So, how's life been?" he asked. "Oh, fine." she replied. "Did you hear that Professor Elm is passing through town in two days?"

Zack stumbled and looked at her through wide eyes. "What? That's _great!_ That means that we can go on a journey! I just... have to catch a Pokémon." Zack said with slight embarrassment.

Lea looked at him thoughtfully. Then she whispered into his ear, "I'll tell you what. Let's go to Union Cave tomorrow and see what we can find." She winked at him.

He winked back.

 **~The next day~**

"So, what are we looking for?" Lea asked him.

They had just left Azalea Town, heading to Union Cave.

"A really good rock type Pokémon. Rock is strong against bug types, and since Weedle is a bug type, well, you know..." Zack said.

"I think what you're trying to say is that Alex is your best friend, but you still want to be able to beat him."

"Exactly."

They walked in silence until they got to the mouth of the cave. "Well, are you ready to go catch your first Pokémon?" Lea asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be." Zack replied.

They walked into Union Cave.

Immediately, they were overwhelmed by the darkness. "I can't see." Lea said.

"Don't worry, I brought flashlights." Zack said, comforting her. "We'll only stay here for a couple of hours, then we'll go back. I should have caught something by then."

"Okay, great! Hopefully I can catch something cool here too."

They ventured into the darkness, pointing the flashlight beams at every noise they heard, hoping for a Pokémon. In the first ten minutes, they ran into a Zubat, which Lea tried to catch (Zack didn't want it) and missed because it was flying. Hoppip could fly too, of course, but Lea didn't call her out because of the type matchup. Poison type against grass type isn't that amazing.

After that, the only thing they encountered was rocks. And dust. That is, that's what they thought, until...

They were walking past a pool of water when Zack heard something to his left. He tapped Lea on the shoulder and motioned to be quiet. Zack crept towards the sound, which was like rock scraping rock. "Do you hear that?" he whispered to Lea. She nodded and motioned to get out Marill's Pokéball. He did, and snuck towards where the sound was coming from.

Then, he felt a sudden vibration in the ground below him.

He slowly turned in a full circle, looking from Lea's nervous face to the cave walls to the rocks next to him that were... _moving?!_

 _Crunch!_ Zack turned back around to run with Lea, but instead of seeing her, he saw a pair of black-and-white eyes staring back at him.

He shouted, "Go! Marill!" as he threw its Pokéball. The water-type Pokémon popped out and immediately shot the eyes with Water Gun. The creature let out a roar.

 **Lea**

As soon as the rocks started moving, she had bolted out of the room but was hit by a rock from the cavern ceiling. Then, she had the unusual feeling that she was being taken somewhere. That's all she remembered. As for this room, and this... _thing... Pokémon..._ beside her, she had no idea where she was.

She sat up and looked around. She did not recognize the Pokémon that was near her. It was looking straight back at her with some sort of interest, as well as holding something shiny in its hand out to her. She took it from the Pokémon's palm and looked at it. It was a white, yellow, and red stone. She shrugged and put it in her pocket. Then she put the pieces together. This Pokémon must have been what took her from-

 _Oh, no._

 _Zack._

She jumped up. "You have to help my friend. He's in danger against some rock Pokémon!"

That was when she recognized the Pokémon. When it replied in it's Pokémon language.

"Shrew." It said with a confirming nod of its head. "Sand, sandshrew."

It then started digging through the wall.

 _Okay, then._

 **Zack**

The eyes blinked the water out of them and roared again. Zack shined his flashlight on the eyes and realized what Pokémon it was. _Oh, gosh._

"Marill, Tail Whip then Water Gun!"

The Marill executed both moves perfectly. The rock type Pokémon was blinking and disoriented from Tail Whip, so the Water Gun landed a direct hit on its face.

Zack threw his only Pokéball. It hit the Pokémon.

Shook once.

Shook twice.

 _Click._

 **Lea**

The Sandshrew burrowed its way into the humongous chamber. Lea caught a glimpse of Zack's face and sighed in relief.

"Where'd the Pokémon go?" she asked him.

He smiled. "Never mind that. Are you okay?"

"Yup."

"Then let's go. I'm fine here."

Lea had a feeling he was hiding something important, but there was something she had to do first.

She turned around. "Hey, little guy." she said to the Sandshrew. "How'd you like to come with me?"

The Sandshrew thought about it for a moment. Then it let out an excited squeak and launched itself at the Pokéball Lea was holding out.

Lea smiled. "I just caught a Sandshrew."

Zack smiled back, even bigger. "I just caught an Onix."


	3. The First Battle

**Zack**

After recalling Marill, Zack walked home with a grin on his face. It was only 4 in the afternoon, and they had left Azalea Town at 1, so Zack was thinking they shouldn't have raised too much suspicion. Especially with his new Pokémon (that he hadn't dared to call out yet), he was thinking he didn't want to call attention to himself just yet.

Lea was walking with both of her Pokémon out of their Pokéballs, enjoying the fresh air of Route 33. Her Sandshrew, now named Savvy, was walking on the ground beside her and Henry, her Hoppip was hovering next to her.

Zack looked at her. "Don't tell Alex about Onix, okay? I want it to be a surprise when we battle."

Much to his annoyance, Lea didn't appear to have heard a word he'd said. He was about to repeat himself when she said back, "I won't. But I was just thinking, we all have our own Pokémon now, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Why?

"And you and Alex are going on the Pokémon Trainer Journey, right?

"That's what we're aiming for, yes."

Lea's hands were fidgeting. She said, "Do... you... think... I could come with you?"

Zack was taken aback. "Come with us? Oh... um... it's fine with me, I guess, but Alex has to say yes too."

Lea's face lit up. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! When do you plan on leaving?"

Zack thought about it. "Even today would be a good idea. The weather's nice, and the three of us have decent Pokémon, so all that's left is to tell our parents. We're all twelve, which I would say is an appropriate age to go on a journey, especially since most trainers start at age ten. That being said, even if they said no, their argument would be that they don't want us to." he finished.

Lea smirked. "With parents, they can usually make that a pretty compelling argument."

"True."

Zack and Lea reached the sign for Azalea Town. "Let's go to Alex's house first and tell him and his parents that we might be able to leave today. Then we can tell yours and mine." Then, as an afterthought, he said, "Sorry, but I think Savvy might have to go back into his ball. Alex would probably ask where you caught him."

Lea understood. She pulled out Savvy's Pokeball and said, "Savvy, return." The Sandshrew was engulfed in red light and shot back towards the ball. She put it in her pocket.

"Alright, let's go." Zack said. He and Lea walked down the road to where Alex's house was and rang the doorbell.

Alex opened the door. "Where were you? I rang both of your doorbells twice and your parents said you were looking for Pokémon! How'd it go?" he asked.

Zack looked at Lea.

Lea looked at Zack.

Then they both turned to Alex and said, "Meh."

 **Alex**

At first, Alex was scared that they had started their journey without him. Then, he reassured himself that Zack would never leave his best friend. "Where did you guys go?" he asked. "We just went for a walk, then"- _ahem_ -"we turned around when we... um... got to Union Cave."

Hmmm... Something didn't make sense. "Union cave is only about a one-and-a-half round trip."

"We did battle a few Pokémon, of course." Zack told him. "Lea even caught one. Lea, bring out Savvy."

"Let's go outside first." she said.

"Good idea." After they walked outside, Lea threw the Sandshrew's Pokéball on the ground and Savvy popped out, squeaking happily. "So cool!" was all Alex said as he reached down to fondle the Pokémon's head.

"So, Alex, want to battle? I painted a battlefield right outside the city limits." Zack asked. Zack didn't know that the entire time they'd been gone, Alex had been training with Weedle. He was sure that its level had increased.

"Sure. When did you catch a Pokémon?" Why was Zack so confident he could win all of a sudden? And why were Zack and Lea exchanging mischievous grins? "'Bout the same time Lea caught Savvy." he said.

"Alright," Lea said, stretching. "I'll be the referee. Would you like me to invite anyone?"

"Just our parents, I guess. Or anyone that wants to come." Alex said. "C'mon, let's go."

 **~At the Battlefield~**

 **Lea**

"Are the Trainers ready?" Lea yelled from the middle of the sidelines. Alex nodded to her left. Zack nodded to her right. Their parents, as well as Lea's dad, had shown up to watch the battle. Lea had ran to the three houses, informing them of what was happening. Alex and Zack had returned Marill and Growlithe, so it was a single battle with one Pokémon each. Hoppip was going to fly around to referee the match at different angles.

"Trainers, call out your Pokémon!"

In the same split second, Alex yelled "Go, Weedle!" and Zack yelled "Go, Onix!"

The Hairy Bug Pokémon and the Rock Snake Pokémon pop out in a flash of white light and face each other from opposite ends of the field. The Onix even seemed to be grinning.

All of the color drained from Alex's face. "Wh-what? How is that possible?" he stuttered. "When did you get that?" He called to Zack.

"Union Cave, earlier today!" Zack yelled back. "How do you like it?"

The Onix then looked back at Zack with an angry look on its face. He realized his mistake quickly.

"Uhm... how do you like her?" The Onix then nodded and turned back to face the Weedle, who was trying its best to look intimidating.

"Okay, trainers... fight!" Lea yelled, interrupting the weak conversation.

Alex reacted instantly and yelled, "String shot at its tail!" The Weedle shot the sticky string at the tail of the Onix, enveloping it's lower half. Meanwhile, Zack was anxiously thinking to himself. _What moves does a rock type Pokémon know? It's also a snake... how about..._ "Bind!"

The Onix swept towards the tiny Weedle, or at least tried to. The string on its tail tripped it, and the Onix fell face first onto the field. But it got back up and roared. "Use Rock Blast!" The Onix roared again, and rocks slammed against the Weedle. The bug type Pokémon retaliated and used Poison Sting on Onix's tail, leaving them both in weak condition.

Alex yelled, "Bug Bite on its forehead!"just as Zack commanded, "Defense Curl!"

The Onix curled up into a tight ball and the Weedle rushed forward, glowing with an eerie green light mixed with a bright white glow. The Weedle leapt towards the curled-up Onix— and missed completely.

 **~Zack~**

A bright white light was coming from the middle of the field, apparently the Weedle.

Or... it used to be a Weedle.

A new Pokémon fell to the ground. It was the same color as the Weedle it used to be, but no pink. The Pokémon had black, shiny eyes and it looked itself up and down. Lea yelled, "Match paused!" as Alex rushed onto the field.

His worried expression turned into one of glee as he kneeled over his Pokémon. He looked up and said, "Weedle evolved!"

Zack grinned. "Congrats, Alex. But doesn't it..." The newly evolved Kakuna chirped and promptly stopped moving.

Alex sighed. "I knew that was coming. They have to store up energy for evolution, so all their energy goes to that instead of moving." he said.

Then, Zack stopped to listen to something. He could hear clapping in the distance, but getting closer. Then he heard a voice say, "Well done, well done. May I meet these trainers?"

Zack looked up and saw the face of Professor Elm.


	4. The Professor

**Big thanks to _TheBattleCat_** **(my brother) for help and advice with this chapter!**

 **Zack**

Zack just gaped at the professor. "P-professor Elm? H-how did you get here?"

Elm chuckled. "Last time I checked, I walked. I was coming here to pick up a package, and I saw that twenty-five foot tall Onix towering over everything! And that's just a little one, too! That was a nice battle you had going there, especially since your friend's Weedle evolved into a Kakuna. However, you should get that Onix to a Pokémon Center. It took a good bit of damage from that little Weedle.

"How'd you like to go with me to the Pokémon Center?" the professor said. "I'll be passing by there when I'm going to pick up my package."

During all of this, Alex and Lea had been staring at Professor Elm in admiration. "Sure." Zack, Alex, and Lea all said in unison.

The three recalled their Pokémon, except for Henry, who was enjoying flying around and blowing in their faces, squeaking happily. Lea was watching the Hoppip with a smile on her face.

They started walking back towards Azalea Town, basically leaving their parents behind without a thought. "That was a nice battlefield you had back there." Elm said, looking like he was deep in thought. He stopped and looked at the three Trainers. "What are your names?"

"Alex."

"I'm Zack."

"My name's Lea."

"Okay. I take it you all know who I am?" They nodded.

"Okay, great. Could you do something for me?" he asked.

Zack nodded along with Lea and Alex.

"Bring out your Pokémon, please." said the professor.

They reached for their Pokeballs, and Professor Elm said hastily to Zack, "No, no, not that Onix of yours. I've seen it in battle and frankly, I don't think you need any buildings destroyed in this town."

Zack nodded and put Onix's ball back in his pocket. _That's true,_ he thought. If Onix popped out of its ball right now, he could accidentally knock down trees and buildings with his gigantic tail.

Henry flew in front of them as Savvy and Kakuna appeared out of the red-and-white balls that Alex and Lea had thrown. Elm looked them over, seeming to be looking for something. He nodded. "That'll do. That'll do quite nicely."

Alex frowned. "That'll do... for what?" he asked.

"You'll see." Elm replied. "But first, let's get your Pokémon to the Pokémon Center."

 **Lea**

At the Pokémon Center, Lea sat on a bench while Zack and Alex had Onix and Kakuna restored to full health. Professor Elm was sitting next to her, still thinking. She wondered what he was thinking about, as it seemed to involve her, Zack, and Alex. Then she shrugged mentally. _If it does involve us, then he'll tell us,_ she thought.

Zack walked back to where they were sitting with Alex right behind him. "Nurse Joy says it'll be a few minutes for both of them to be back to full health. It apparently takes a while for Onix to heal, since they can't let her out of her ball. Whaddaya say we go on a walk?" Alex said.

"Hey, why not?" Elm said, getting up and stretching. "You can come with me to get my package, if you want. I still need to do that before it gets dark. It's already five o'clock, you know."

"Sure." Alex said, with Lea and Zack nodding their heads.

Zack rushed to the door and held it open, letting Lea pass through with a "Thank you." and Professor Elm and Alex following shortly after. Lea walked down the steps and asked, "So, where is this 'package' you've been talking about?"

"Right over there," Professor Elm said, pointing to the Pokemart that was about fifty feet away.

"Don't packages usually get delivered to Pokémon Centers?" Zack asked.

"I told my delivery man to meet me there because having my name shouted in a public place usually attracts attention I don't want."

Just then, a little boy ran past, wailing. Lea stopped him, asking, "Hey, what's wrong?"

The boy looked up at her, tears streaming out of his eyes, and said, "A big black bird just came by and picked up my poor Ratty, and now he's lost! WAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

Alex patted the kid on the back. "A big black bird, huh? And what did this big black bird take?"

"H-he *sniff* took R-ratty, m-my Rattata."

"And can you tell us where this happened?" Lea questioned.

The boy pointed. "In there." Lea followed where the boy was pointing and found that she was looking at Ilex Forest.

She turned around and looked at Professor Elm. He answered her silent question with his next word. "Murkrow." She nodded. His answer had confirmed what she was thinking. Murkrows were sneaky Pokémon, and they tended to take things from unsuspecting people. Especially when they could fly away and hide before anyone could do something about it.

"I'll run and get Onix and Kakuna, we might need them." Zack said, walking backwards then turning around to go back to the Pokémon Center.

Alex turned to Lea with a nervous smile. "Why does that scare me?"

The professor turned to her as well and said, "My package may be able to help with this. I'll be right back."

Elm jogged off to where the Pokemart was and went in. A few seconds later, he came out carrying a box.

He walked towards Lea, Alex, and the boy. The professor opened the box, set it on the ground, and took something out of it. He tossed the object to Lea, reached into the box again, and tossed an identical object to Alex. "Do you know what that is?" Elm said.

They looked down at what was in their hands, and saw...

 _Oh, my..._

 **Zack**

Zack walked into the Pokémon Center and immediately went to the front desk. "Hi, I'm Zack Austin. I'm here to pick up my Onix and Alex Gunter's Kakuna." he said to Nurse Joy.

She smiled at him and checked the computer in front of her. "They are both ready! I'll go get them."

She walked into the back room for a moment. Zack took that time to take a look around the Center. He saw a man with a Politoed, a girl with a Pidgey, and a woman with two Caterpies. Nurse Joy then came out holding two Pokeballs.

"Your Onix is such a sweet thing! I worked on her myself, and she was cheerful the entire time!" she said.

Zack took the Pokémon and thanked the nurse. Then, he jogged out of the Center, going towards where Alex and Lea were standing. Then he noticed that they were staring at something in their hands, eyes wide. What could _that_ be?

He slowed his pace to a walk and shouted out, "Hey, guys! What's up?"

Suddenly, Professor Elm said, "Zack, catch!" just as Zack was putting Onix's Pokeball in his pocket. He caught the object with one hand and looked at it.

 _No way. I can't believe it. It's a..._


	5. The Pokédex

**Alex**

 _This is amazing._

"A P-pokedex?!" Alex said in surprise, a smile slowly forming on his face.

Elm grinned at Alex, Zack, and Lea. "I have seen enough to know that you can use these wisely, at least for a little bit."

"That's awesome! I can't believe we're actually getting Pokedexes!" Zack said, smiling as well.

"They're only yours once you get the Rattata back." Professor Elm said, wagging a finger at Zack. Zack shrugged. "Should be easy enough." he said.

Alex turned on the Pokedex. He tapped he screen a few times, then gasped. "Hey, guys! I can see the levels of our Pokémon!" He scanned each of their Pokémon in turn, and turned to Lea and Zack. "Henry is level 8, Savvy is level 9, Kakuna is level 9, and Onix is level 11." Alex saw Zack try to stifle a grin. He rolled his eyes. Zack didn't know what was close to happening that would even up their Pokémon.

Alex looked at Lea, who was still gaping at the Pokedex she held in her hands. He nudged her with his shoulder and said softly, "Look at us. We're one step closer to our journey."

She looked up at him, still speechless.

The professor chuckled. "Alright, I'll be back at the Pokémon Center. You three go get this boy's Rattata, and then come talk to me back here." He said, turning around to walk back to the Center.

As he was going, Alex yelled, "THANKS, PROFESSOR!"

Elm waved his hand in acknowledgement, not turning around as he walked inside the Pokémon Center.

Alex turned to Zack, Lea, and the little boy. "Well, let's go, shall we?"

Without another word, Alex walked towards Ilex Forest.

Zack jogged up beside him, Lea and the little boy following him. She had apparently woken up from her trance, and she was reaching into her pocket for something. She brought out a Pokeball, and said, "Come on, Savvy!"

 **Lea**

She tossed the Sandshrew's Pokeball on the ground. Savvy appeared in a flash of light, rolling around on the ground. Lea scanned her with the Pokedex, and read the screen. It said:

Sandshrew lvl. 9

Type: Ground

Moves learned: Scratch, Rollout, Defense Curl, Rapid Spin

Gender: Female

When Sandshrew rolls up into a ball, its tough hide helps keep it safe. It lives in caves or the desert and sleeps in a burrow under the sand.

Evolution: Sanshrew - ?

Trainer: Lea Coleman

Lea looked up from the Pokedex. _Hmmm... How would this help in battle?_

"Hey guys, scan your Pokémon." she said to Alex and Zack.

"Already did." came the reply from Zack. "Apparently, you can scan Pokémon when they're inside their Pokeballs. I didn't know that."

 **Alex**

Alex hastily threw Kakuna's Pokeball on the ground. The Cocoon Pokémon popped out, balancing on the bottom tip of its shell. It shifted to look at him and blinked twice.

He pulled the Pokedex back out of his back pocket, turning it on. He hit the Pokémon icon, and a screen came up labeling Kakuna.

Kakuna lvl. 9

Type: Bug/Poison

Moves learned: Harden

Gender: Male

Kakuna appears motionless from the outside, but inside its shell, it's busily preparing to evolve. Sometimes the shell heats up from this activity.

Evolution: Weedle - Kakuna - ?

Trainer: Alex Gunter

"Awwww, he only knows Harden? No attack moves at all?" Alex complained.

The Kakuna looked at him with sad and embarrassed eyes, making him immediately regret what he had said. "No, no, I didn't mean it like that, I just... can't wait for you to evolve, that's all."

That just made him look even sadder.

"I'm sorry, just... oh, forget it." Alex said, ashamed of himself. He leaned in towards the Pokémon, whispering, "I know you evolve at the next level, so let's make it count. Hold in your evolution until the best moment." he said, grinning.

Kakuna's eyes brightened, and he nodded at Alex. Alex winked.

Alex recalled Kakuna, and they continued walking towards Ilex Forest.

 **~Ilex Forest~**

 **A mysterious trainer**

He watched them approach on the road from Azalea Town, talking.

 _Let's see..._

The girl had a Sandshrew, but had another Pokeball on her belt. The two boys both had one Pokeball on their belts.

 _If they cause trouble, it should be easy for my three. But they might not want to._

 **Zack**

Zack, Alex, Lea, and the little boy arrived at Ilex Forest. Zack said to Lea, "Do you think Henry could scout around and look for the Murkrow and the Rattata? He can fly, so it would be much easier."

Lea called out Henry, who started squeaking and bouncing around happily. "Go into the forest and look for a Murkrow with a Rattata. When you find it, come get us, ok?" she told the Hoppip. It said, "Hop!" in confirmation and flew off into the trees.

Zack strolled into the forest with the others right behind him. They were all on the lookout for the Murkrow.

"Do you think we'll actually have to fight it?" Alex asked him, pushing back branches and leaves.

"If it doesn't give the Rattata back easily, then probably. Knowing us, we'll probably attack it anyway so we can try to level up our Pokemon." Zack said. "It is just a Murkrow, though. How hard could it be?"

Alex looked at him incredulously. "Uh, have you ever seen a Murkrow?"

"Once, from a distance. Why?"

"Because those things are extremely tricky. Remember? They like taking things. Like Pokémon."

Zack thought about that for a minute as he watched for the black bird.

 _But why would it take a Pokémon? Murkrows definitely don't eat Rattatas, so what would it do with the Rattata?_

The little kid was dragging along behind them, and Lea helped him back up to their walking pace. They approached a clearing in the trees and underbrush where Henry the Hoppip was waiting.

 _And why would that kid be in this forest- alone- in the first place?_

Zack heard a rustling in the trees to his left. He turned.

 _And if the Rattata belonged to this kid, where's the Pokéball?_

"Guys, there it is!" Zack yelled. He reached for Onix's Pokéball, but Lea had beat him to it.

"Henry, use Tackle!"

The startled Murkrow tried to take off, but in its confusion, its wing got tangled in a vine.

Henry hit the Pokémon head-on, dealing some critical damage, as the Murkrow was unable to do anything about it.

The Murkrow squawked angrily. It disentangled itself from the vine and dived at the Hoppip. Its beak glowed white and it faceplanted into the Hoppip, with the force of the dive and its body weight behind it. Hoppip squealed in pain and was launched across the clearing. It landed and stayed still for a moment before struggling to get up. Zack heard Lea's sigh of relief.

Zack asked, "Do you need help? You're at a type disadvantage."

She shook her head as she pulled out her Pokedex. "No. Henry and I need to win this."

She yelled, "Henry, use Synthesis!"

The pink Pokémon glowed with a yellow and green light. Henry jumped up, not at full HP but still ready for battle.

Lea looked at the screen of her Pokedex. "Henry, try using... Absorb!"

The Hoppip spun the leaves on its head, and green sparkles formed around the Murkrow. Henry yelled, "Hop!" and the Murkrow squawked as the green sparkles flew back to Hoppip. The sparkles spun around its leaves and disappeared.

During all of this, Zack had one eye on Lea's Pokedex. He looked at the HP bar, and noticed it the same time that Lea did.

The HP bar was completely full. Also, Henry had leveled up twice.

 **Lea**

"Henry, feint with Tackle, then wait for it to dodge so you can use Tackle head-on." she whispered to the Hoppip as he hovered near her head. He nodded.

"Go!" Lea yelled.

Henry executed the combo almost perfectly. He charged the Murkrow as if he were going to use Tackle, and the Murkrow flapped its wings and jumped to the side to avoid what it thought was coming.

It was wrong.

Henry jumped into its path and rammed it headfirst. According to the Pokedex screen, the Hoppip received some unnecessary recoil damage because he used his head, but it didn't matter. The Murkrow was out cold.

"Yippee! I beat it, I beat it, I beat it!" Lea squealed.

"Well, do you want to catch it?" Alex said. "I guess it's all yours, since you beat it and all. They're pretty handy."

Lea gasped. "Oh, I forgot I could catch it! Here, let's see..." She pulled out a Pokeball and enlarged it.

She tossed it at the Murkrow.

And it bounced off.

Lea heard a voice she didn't recognize.

"Now, we can't be catching other trainers' Pokémon, can we? That would be called... stealing, wouldn't it?"

A guy stepped out of the shadow of a tree a few feet away. After getting over her initial shock, Lea wondered how they hadn't noticed him.

He pulled out a Pokeball and said, "Murkrow, return." The fainted Murkrow was recalled in a beam of red light, and he put the ball back in his pocket.

He turned to Lea. "I'm impressed. Not many people can handle Murkrow with that kind of experience. How long have you had that Hoppip?" he asked.

"Only a few days. Who are you?" Lea replied with another question.

Zack cut in. "And where's the Rattata that your Murkrow stole from this kid?" he said, pointing to the little boy, who had been watching the battle with wide eyes and was now staring at the boy across from them.

"Oh, that? Here, you can have it back. I had mistaken it for something else." The guy reached into his pocket and pulled out a Pokeball, at which time the little kid yelled, "Ratty!" He threw the Pokéball to the kid, who caught it happily.

"As for your first question, my name is Levi LeBrusco. That's all you need to know."


	6. The Announcement

**Alex**

"Well then, you still need to stop trying to take Pokémon. What Pokémon are you trying to take, anyway?" Alex asked.

Levi thought about it, then apparently decided that it wasn't a secret. "I'm looking for... a special Pokémon." He turned around to walk away. "And that's all you need to know."

Lea snorted. "All I need to know is why that's all we need to know."

"That made sense." Alex watched Levi disappear into the forest. Then he turned to Zack and said, "You realize we did absolutely nothing during that battle, right?"

Zack looked a bit ashamed. "Yeah. I don't feel like we've earned the Pokedexes. Only Lea has."

Lea recalled Henry, who had been bouncing around the clearing in pure joy. Then she took out her Pokedex and tapped something. Lea smiled as she said, "Henry's level 11 now. Oh, and how'd you like that move, Synthesis? We worked on it the night before we went to Union Cave."

Alex was confused. "When did you go to Union Cave?"

Lea laughed. "That was when we caught Onix and Savvy."

"But you said... never mind. Let's go back to the Pokémon Center."

 **~The Pokémon Center~**

"Well, well, look who's here!" said Professor Elm as Alex and Zack opened the door of the Pokémon Center. "How'd it go?"

Alex smiled. "It went great! Lea just stopped to take the boy home."

"Does she know where he lives?" said the professor.

"I'm sure Henry will help her if she gets lost." Alex replied. "Anyway, there is one thing you should know..."

Zack, who had been silent since they left the forest, spoke up. "Lea did all the work. She battled the Murkrow with Henry, and won spectacularly. We literally just stood by and watched. I offered to help, but she didn't need it."

Elm thought about this. "Well, this would mean that you didn't really earn your Pokedexes, wouldn't it?"

Zack and Alex looked at their shoes. "Yes, sir." they replied.

"Well then, I have just the thing. How'd you like to compete in the first-ever Azalea Town Tournament?"

Alex looked up. "I'm guessing that is... a Pokémon battling competition with every trainer from Azalea Town?" he said, his hopes coming back up along with Zack's.

Elm grinned. "Exactly. So you can earn the Pokedex against other trainers. They won't be getting a Pokedex, of course, but some other prize will do for them. To earn your Pokedex, you need to be in the top four." Elm thought about it for a minute. "I guess if you win you can have the prize too."

Alex was smiling broadly now. He knew he would make it.

Lea opened the door, and Zack waved her over.

"The little boy's mom gave me a basket of cookies for helping her son. Want one?" she said while holding the basket in her hands out to everyone. They two boys declined the offer, but Professor Elm reached in and grabbed one.

"I'll organize this tournament to be in two days." he said in between bites. "You can train as much as you like during those two days."

Lea looked confused. "What's going on?"

Elm explained how Zack and Alex felt like they didn't help in her battle, so they were competing in a tournament that the professor was making to win the Pokedexes.

"Oh. That makes sense, actually. Am I allowed to compete in the tournament?" she asked.

"Every trainer in this town is." Elm said. "But you'd be playing for a different prize, seeing as you already earned your Pokedex."

Lea gasped. "I did?"

Professor Elm smiled as he said, "You did as soon as you defeated that Murkrow."

Lea was back in speechless mode.

Elm looked at his watch. "Well, it's almost 7 o' clock. Keep the Pokedexes with you. You three better get going and get to bed. You'll probably want to train tomorrow."

 **~The next morning~**

 **Zack**

Zack woke up to his mom shaking him awake. "Honey, it's already nine thirty. You'd better get up and train for this tournament thing. You won't be losing on me." Zack had told them about the tournament last night, and they had understood and promised to come watch when it happened.

He sat up and stretched as his mother walked out of the room. He looked at the single Pokeball on his desk, and could see where the Onix was snoozing contently.

Zack put his feet on the floor. As soon as he did that, his mom's Marill came up and- _Kssshhh!_ \- sprayed water on his face.

Zack laughed a bit as he wiped off his face and reached down to pet the adorable Water-type. Thanks to Marill, he was now completely awake.

"Alright, buddy. C'mon, let's go feed Onix some breakfast." He grabbed Onix's Pokeball and walked out of his room, which led to the stairs that he walked down. The Marill bounced off to Zack's dad's room, probably about to wake him up in the same way.

"HEY MOM, I'M GOING TO FEED ONIX!" he said before opening the door at the front of his house and going out. Thankfully, his parents had bought many bags of Pokémon food as soon as they had seen Onix.

Zack tossed Onix's Pokeball on the ground. "G' morning, girl." he said as the Rock Snake Pokémon appeared in the familiar flash of white light. She blinked a few times, then lowered her head down to where Zack was standing. She nudged him affectionately.

Zack laughed. "You're so sweet and cuddly when you're not battling. But people are even more scared of you when you are!" He patted Onix's head as he jogged to the garage to get the Pokémon food.

A few moments later, he came out with a yellow bag on his shoulders depicting Rock-type Pokémon. He put it on the ground and ripped it open, and before he could react, she stuck her head in the bag and began to eat, knocking Zack to the ground. He laughed while getting back up.

"You really were hungry, weren't you? Alright. You stay right here. I'm going to go get dressed and have _my_ breakfast. Don't go anywhere, okay?"

Onix took her head out of the bag long enough to nod, then resumed her eating.

Zack walked inside his house, going the stairs two at a time to get to his room, as he usually did. He entered his room and closed the door, looking through the window to make sure that Onix was still there. She noticed him looking and let out a short bark, probably waking up everyone in Azalea Town that wasn't awake yet.

Zack rolled his eyes and waved, smiling. He pointed a finger, mouthing _Stay right there._ He pulled the curtains shut and walked to his closet, pulling off his shirt.

After he was fully dressed in his day clothes, he opened his curtains to see Onix peacefully watching a flock of Pidgeys fly by. He smiled. The Onix had two completely different personalities.

The peaceful personality, and the battle personality.

Zack ran out of his room, down the stairs, and out the front door, skipping the kitchen and completely forgetting about eating breakfast.

He recalled Onix and put the food bag back in the garage. He then turned on the Pokegear that he got for his 12th birthday.

He tapped the Friends icon on the screen. He scrolled down to the _G'_ s and clicked on Alex Gunter.

Zack hit Message.

 _Meet me at the battlefield at 10, can you?_

He hit Send and turned the Pokegear off.

It was already 9:53, so Zack assumed that Alex would be a bit late because of the short notice.

Then his Pokegear buzzed. He read the screen.

 _Beat you there. By forty-one minutes._

 **Lea**

Lea walked to the apartment where Professor Elm was staying. After a breakfast of toast, eggs, and cereal, she was ready for a day of training. But there had been something on her mind ever since she had left the forest with Alex and Zack.

She walked up the steps to the correct apartment and knocked on the door.

A few moments later, the door opened. "Hello, hello, there!" came the voice from a cheerful Professor Elm.

He appeared in the doorway a second later. "Good morning, Lea. Ready for a day of training?" he said.

He was dressed in a blue t-shirt with a Pokeball on it and khaki shorts.

Lea was, to be honest, a bit surprised. "Why aren't you wearing your lab coat?"

"It's 85 degrees out here. If you want to wear a winter coat, then go ahead. But I'm only wearing this. Oh, and shoes, I guess."

Lea tried to get back on the subject she was at his house for. "So, I have something to tell you. Can I come inside?"

"Sure."

They walked into the cozy apartment. As soon as they did, a tiny Pidgey flew up to Lea and chirped happily.

"Who is this?" she asked, laughing a little as it landed on her shoulder.

"That's Happy. I found him with an injured talon, and I fixed it. Then he insisted on staying with me."

"Appropriate name." Lea said as the Tiny Bird Pokémon nuzzled its head into her neck.

Elm grinned. "It's actually the only one he would agree to."

Lea's expression became serious. "The reason I came is, we saw someone at the forest."

The professor's expression turned curious. "And?"

"He said his name was Levi... LeBrusco, I think. I remember the last name from somewhere, and I-I don't think it was good."

Professor Elm's face turned thoughtful as he searched his brain for the name. "I can't think of anything at the moment.

"I'll tell you what. I can do some research on the name, and I'll send you anything interesting I find. Okay?"

Lea nodded and waved, smiling. "Sure, thanks!"

A thought came to her, and she voiced it. "Hey, can we do a battle at the field? You can use Happy, and I'd rather train with someone rather than alone."

Elm shrugged. "Sure. I do still need to announce the tournament and post the details around town. We can do that on the way." he said.

"Well then, I'm ready when you are." Lea said. She watched Elm walk into a back room of the apartment.

He came back a moment later with a pile of flyers labeling the tournament. Lea picked one off the top of the stack and started to read.

 _Azalea Town Tournament_

 _June 20th, starting at 10 am at the battlefield right outside town._

 _For any trainer to participate! (Except you, Bugsy. You can ref.)_

 _You can only use up to two Pokémon._

 _Winner of the tournament gets to battle Bugsy for the Hive Badge!_

 _16 spots open- register with the sheets below!_

 _When registering, state your name, Pokémon, and address in Azalea Town._

 _Sponsored by Professor Elm._

Lea saw the white sheets of paper at the bottom of the stack, and put the flyer back on top.

"Is that all the information we need?" she asked.

Professor Elm nodded. "All I have to do is ask Bugsy if he'll referee the matches and battle the winner. I already sent out a radio broadcast announcing the tournament, so this may not even be necessary."

"M'kay. Let's just post these around town as we go."

Lea stuck them to lampposts and knocked on the doors of the trainers she knew, with most of them replying with "Yes!" and running to go tell someone.

Finally, after sticking every last one of the 50 flyers around town, they put the registration box in middle of town, and jogged towards the battlefield.

 **A mysterious trainer**

She picked up the flyer on the ground and looked at it. It described the Azalea Town Tournament, which was the day after tomorrow.

She turned on her Pokegear, took a picture of the flyer, and hit Message.

Group Chat.

To: Levi, Liam

image.jpeg

C'mon, guys. We've got work to do.

She hit Send.


	7. The Training: Part 1

**Big thanks to _pokemonking0294_ for all the help and review on my first Pokémon story! You've helped me so much!**

 **Zack**

 _Beat you there. By forty-one minutes._

Zack rolled his eyes. He would never get the last word with his best friend.

He texted back,

 _If you're already there, would you like to go and try to catch something in Union? I know my way around._

Zack knew that Alex was still miffed at him and Lea because the had gone to Union Cave without him and both caught something. He had added the second sentence just to annoy him.

He continued walking in the direction of the battlefield, until he heard a chirp behind him.

He turned around and found himself face-to-face with a very small Pidgey. It chirped again.

Zack heard a voice. "Happy, where'd you fly off to? C'mere, little guy!"

Hey, that sounded like...

"Hey, Zack!" Lea ran up to where he and the Pidgey were standing, with Professor Elm a few feet behind her. (At least, he was standing, the Pidgey was flying.)

"Sorry about that. Happy keeps flying away to different parts of town, and we can't get him to stay with us." she said.

"You're fine. Why not just put him in his Pokeball?" Zack asked.

"Happy apparently loves mornings, so we're letting him stay out. But not much longer if he keeps this up." she added, wagging a finger at the Pidgey. The cute bird had settled on her shoulder.

Professor Elm said, "We're going to the battlefield to train. Want to join us?"

Zack smiled. "That's where I'm going." he said. "Alex is already there."

"We can do a double battle, then." Lea said, and Zack nodded.

They all walked to the battlefield. (Except for Happy. He was squawking as loud as he could 10 feet in the air.)

 **~At the battlefield~**

 **Lea**

"Hey, Alex! Howya doin'?" yelled Lea.

"Good as ever! Kakuna already leveled up twice!"

Little did they know that Kakuna had been holding an Everstone when it leveled up.

"Cool. It's..." she pulled out her Pokedex. "Level 11 now? Cool."

Alex nodded. "Alright, how about a double battle?"

They all nodded and pulled out their Pokeballs. Elm realized his was still empty, and yelled, "Happy, get over here!"

The Tiny Bird Pokémon chirped and simply plopped down on the professor's head.

Right before Lea threw Savvy and Henry's Pokeballs on the ground, she noticed Zack talking to Onix's ball.

He looked up. "Onix has been roaring loudly every time she comes out of her ball. I told her only to do that in the tournament."

They all threw their Pokeballs on the ground.

Savvy and Henry appeared and waved at Lea, which was their way of saying _good morning_.

Zack threw his ball on the ground, and out came Onix in a flash of white light.

She was completely silent.

Zack was laughing. "I didn't mean you had to be completely quiet, just not a loud roar when you popped out!" he said.

Onix nodded her understanding, and just for fun, she let out another short bark, identical to the one earlier that morning. Again, she lowered her head down to Zack and let him pet her forehead. Then she moved forward a bit and pushed Zack over.

Onix came to full height, looking like she was laughing a bit as Zack got up. He was laughing again.

"She does that every time, and I still can't get used to it." he said.

Alex rolled his eyes. "Who are the teams?" he asked.

Professor Elm shrugged. "How about me and you, and Zack and Lea against us."

Alex looked around.

Lea nodded. "Fine by me. I get to see how you two battle, so I can use it against you in the tournament."

"We all do." Zack said.

Just then, something caught Lea's eye. It was Alex leaning down in front of Kakuna, who had just appeared out of his ball. Alex was taking something from it. It looked like some sort of gray stone.

Lea tried to get her mind in gear for the upcoming battle. She and Zack took their places on one side of the battlefield, while Alex and Professor Elm stood on the other. Their Pokémon took their places on the battlefield as well, with Lea calling back Savvy.

"Ready..." Lea yelled.

She, Alex, and Zack had already taken out their Pokedexes.

"GO!"

"Henry, fly above Onix and use Absorb on Kakuna!" Lea told the Hoppip. It was hard to hear over the other's commands, but Henry had heard her and was flying up to the Rock Snake Pokémon's head, its green leaves rotating like a helicopter's blades.

Henry landed a side hit on Kakuna and it chattered as Henry absorbed the last few green sparkles.

As soon as this had happened, Happy came and used Peck on Henry, not doing much damage but knocking him out of the sky. He squawked in triumph... and Onix smacked him with her tail.

Lea scanned Happy with her Pokedex and saw that he was down to two-thirds of his health.

Henry, who had peeled himself off of the ground, was at about two-thirds health as well.

Onix, of course, was still at pretty much full health.

Kakuna was just sitting there. Until...

"Kakuna, now!" Alex yelled from his spot on the field.

Kakuna glowed with a white light as he was lifted off of the ground. Soon, you couldn't even see the outline of the Pokémon.

Onix, Henry, and Happy had all stopped fighting they were watching Kakuna with wide eyes.

"Twineedle!" Alex shouted as the ball of white light lowered to the ground. A Pokémon burst out, but it wasn't Kakuna.

Lea glimpsed the yellow-and-black striped abdomen and the translucent wings.

That was all she saw before Onix fell to the ground, knocked out.

Lea saw Alex grinning from ear to ear.

"C'mon, Beedrill!" he yelled. "Show 'em what you've got!"


	8. The Training: Part 2

**Zack**

Zack was still looking at Onix on the ground as Beedrill attacked Henry. He recalled her.

 _How did he beat her so fast? I didn't see even see Beedrill move._

Henry was putting up a good fight, and he took to the air.

But Beedrill flew up in the air as well, quickly knocking Henry to the ground.

Henry squeaked defeatedly as Lea recalled him and pulled out another Pokeball.

"I can use Savvy, right?" she asked.

Zack shrugged. "As long as you beat that thing."

She nodded. "Let's go, Savvy!" she yelled as she threw her Pokeball.

Savvy appeared in a flash of light and squeaked nervously, eyeing the Beedrill.

"Use Rollout. It's more effective on Beedrill than the other moves you have." Zack heard Lea whisper, and Savvy nodded as she turned to face Alex's Pokémon.

"And..." Lea said softly.

Beedrill turned around to look at Happy and Alex.

"Now."

Savvy barrelled across the field, heading straight for Beedrill, who turned.

But not quickly enough.

The Sandshrew body-slammed Beedrill directly in the face and rolled back to her side of the battlefield.

Zack checked his Pokedex. That had taken away about a fifth of Beedrill's HP bar.

Despite being an extremely fast Pokémon, the Bug- and Poison-type couldn't keep up with Savvy rolling around. His eyes followed Savvy as she rolled in circles, building up energy for another slam.

Beedrill fell down, making Alex's mouth fall open.

"What happened?" he asked.

Zack grinned. He already knew the answer. "Beedrill's confused. He was watching Savvy roll around in circles, and he got too dizzy and fell down. He can still battle, but half the time he'll attack himself."

Alex frowned. "Okay, Beedrill, use Fury Attack on that Sandshrew." he said, pointing to Savvy.

Beedrill got up and used Fury Attack on the nearest tree, cutting it to pieces.

Alex sighed. "Professor Elm, can Happy take care of Savvy?"

The professor shrugged. "We've got the type disadvantage, but we can try."

As soon as Savvy heard this, she rolled towards Happy and slammed into him, knocking him out of the battle.

"Never mind." Elm said, smiling a little at what had just happened. "How about we all go on a walk? Let's go heal our Pokémon at the Pokémon Center. I'd say Zack and Lea won this battle."

 **Alex**

Alex, Zack, Lea, and Professor Elm were taking a walk through Route 32 and back. They had just passed through Union Cave, starting on Route 32 and going to battle all the wild Pokémon they saw, and catch the Pokémon if it was one that appealed to them.

Despite losing their battle, Alex was still extremely happy with Beedrill's performance. He had knocked out Zack's Onix in two hits!

Alex knew that Zack would be trying his hardest to level up Onix and maybe catch a new Pokémon.

"Hey, how about a rule?" Alex asked, trying to get the group's attention. They were all looking at him. "If you see a Pokémon you want, you need to say 'dibs,' okay?"

Lea shrugged. "Sure. I guess that would clear up confusion over who rightly caught a certain Pokémon."

Alex nodded. "And you have to say it first, if you didn't figure that out." he added.

Zack cut into the conversation by saying, "Was it just luck that Beedrill took out Onix in one hit? Or can he do that every time?"

Professor Elm said, "I think I know. Beedrill's second hit was critical, making it deal extra damage. Also, the damage was dealt in two separate hits. It looked like one hit, but the speed of the attack did that."

Zack looked confused. "So?"

"That means that Onix's Ability, Sturdy, had no effect." Elm said. "Sturdy keeps the Pokémon at 1 HP if it gets hit by a move that would normally knock it out in only one hit. Also, Beedrill has the Sniper ability, which makes critical hits even stronger."

Zack nodded his understanding. "I'm glad I'm not against Alex in the tournament."

Alex smiled. He loved his best friend, but that didn't mean he didn't want to be able to beat him.

"Speaking of the tournament-" Elm started.

 **Zack**

"DIBS!" Zack yelled, pulling out Onix's Pokeball and throwing it.

Onix appeared in a flash of white light roared as loud as she could.

Which was pretty loud.

The level 13 Bellsprout Zack had called dibs on was shaking as it looked up at Onix, who grinned and waved with her tail.

Bellsprout tried to run away, but Onix circled her tail around the Pokémon. It lashed Onix with its leaves, making Onix roar and release Bellsprout. "What?! Vine Whip isn't that strong!" Professor Elm exclaimed.

"Onix, use Rock Tomb to keep it from running!" Zack yelled before turning back to the Professor.

He pulled out his Pokedex and scanned the Bellsprout. Onix was building a wall of rocks tightly around it, not letting it move.

Zack showed Elm the screen. "See? It knows Power Whip, and it's only level 13. That's why I need... uh... him so badly on my team."

He turned around and yelled, "Alright, Onix! Use Bind!"

Onix wrapped herself around the Bellsprout, only to have him use Power Whip on her again.

Professor Elm yelled, "No physical contact!"

Zack nodded. Elm was right, every time Onix got close to the Bellsprout, she would be vulnerable to Power Whip.

"Onix, Rock Throw!" he yelled.

Onix roared again for effect, and threw the nearest rock at Bellsprout. Thankfully, it wasn't a big rock.

Bellsprout's HP bar was now close to nothing.

Lea yelled, "Zack, now!"

Zack pulled a Pokeball out of his pocket and enlarged it. He took a few steps forward to get the right angle, and then he threw it. It hit the Bellsprout and sucked him into the ball.

It wobbled a few times, then clicked.

Zack walked over to the Pokeball and picked it up.

"Alright, let's keep walking, shall we?" he said, grinning.

 **Alex**

"So, back to the tournament." Alex said, trying to ignore that he was now the only person in the group with only one Pokémon. An amazing Pokémon, sure, but only one.

"Right." Said Elm, also trying to get back on track. "All of the spots in the tournament are full. You three are in there, of course, but Lea, there's something you need to know."

Lea looked up from her Pokegear. "Sorry, Brent was texting me. What is it?"

Elm said, "Well, first of all, there's a guy named Brent Anderson in the tournament, along with Trent Anderson. Is that the guy?"

Lea's face lit up. "Ooh! Brent and his brother are in the tournament? This will be so fun!"

Brent and Trent Anderson had moved from Goldenrod City a few years ago, and they both had decent Pokémon. Alex knew that Lea couldn't wait to battle them. He couldn't either.

Professor Elm stopped walking and pulled out a sheet of paper from his pocket. He showed it to them.

"Those are the matchups for the tournament." Elm said. "They're all random."

Alex studied the chart, memorizing all of the people he could go against.

"I'll be against Evan in the first round, should be a challenge. He has a pretty strong Geodude.." he said.

Elm checked the back of the chart, which listed all of the trainers' Pokémon. "No, it looks like he registered a Joltik as well."

Zack frowned. "Where would that 10-year-old get a Joltik?"

"Gift from his parents, maybe?" Alex suggested. Hopefully Evan would have no idea what Joltik's moves even were.

"I'm up against Grace in the first round." Zack said. "That might be tough. I know she has at least a Marill."

"Then you can use your new _Grass-type_. Duh." said Alex with a grin.

"Hey, yeah, I forgot. C'mon out, little guy." Zack tossed Bellsprout's Pokeball on the ground.

Bellsprout appeared in a flash of light, and looked questioningly at Zack.

"You should name it Belle." Lea said as she walked over to look at the tournament chart.

"It's a boy." Zack replied.

"Then never mind."

"By the way, Zack, Grace also has a Togetic."

Zack nodded in acknowledgement. "Let's start walking back. I need to train Bellsprout and Onix."

He checked his Pokedex. Onix was level 19, and Bellsprout was level 16. He had apparently leveled up more than once during the battle.

And so they started walking back to Azalea Town.

 **Lea**

Lea looked at the chart with interest. "I'm against Mitchell in the first round." She flipped the chart over. "Mitchell adores Falkner and Flying-types, so he has a Pidgey and a Murkrow. Ugh, I hate Murkrows."

Professor Elm looked over. "That should be easy for you. Savvy can knock them both out."

"Oh yeah, sweet." she said. "Also, I just realized that I know everyone on this list except for three people. Hey, wait..."

She squinted at the paper.

"Yeah. That's what I was going to tell you. Levi LeBrusco is on there, along with two other kids with the same last name. I found something on the name last night as well." Elm said.

"What was it?" Lea asked.

"Leroy and Lillian LeBrusco were members of Team Magma. They left the organization right before the battle between Groudon and Kyogre in the Hoenn region. Apparently, they had triplets named Liam, Levi, and Lyn, who are all in the tournament." Elm finished. "I don't know if they're after the prize, which would be normal, or the contestants' Pokémon, which obviously wouldn't."

"Zack, if you win and Levi wins, you're up against each other. Same with me and Lyn. Alex, if you win against Evan, you'll battle Trent or Eva. Probably Trent."

"What's the prize?" Zack asked from a few feet away. Bellsprout was balancing on his shoulder, looking happy as ever.

The professor winked. "You'll see."

Lea sighed. She had been on the verge of asking the exact same question.

"So, if I win and so does Lyn, what will I be up against?"

Elm consulted his chart for a split second, then said, "She has a Mightyena and a Salandit. Both level 18. Savvy should take out Salandit easily, but Mightyena may be a challenge."

"Isn't it cheating if we know what Pokémon they have?" Alex asked.

Professor Elm shook his head. "Everyone gets one on the day of the tournament. You just get it a bit sooner."

Lea was still thinking about the Mightyena. She said, "Dark is weak to Fairy, right?" she asked Zack, referring to the type disadvantage.

Zack nodded.

Lea checked her Pokedex. She tapped on the Moves icon.

She mentally did a fist pump. Henry could learn the perfect move to defeat Mightyena. Lyn might not even win the first round and this might all be for nothing, but...

Henry was going to learn Fairy Wind.

 **Levels**

Onix- lvl 18

Bellsprout- lvl 16

Beedrill- lvl 17

Henry- lvl 15

Savvy- lvl 15

 **A mysterious trainer**

"Ekans, use Screech!" he yelled. The Snake Pokémon let out a horrible noise that lasted for three seconds.

The girl next to him nodded. "Good. We all have a chance of winning."

"Houndour is doing well too. Did you get the three?"

She nodded again. "Yes. We'll be able to use them soon."


	9. The Preparation

**~The next day (The day of the tournament)~**

 **Zack**

 **8:23**

"Bellsprout, use Sleep Powder!" Zack yelled, crossing his fingers that it would work this time. They were going around Azalea Town and looking for Pokémon to practice Sleep Powder on. Zack had found this Pokémon right outside Ilex Forest.

He, unknowingly along with Alex and Lea, was getting some last-minute training in before the tournament.

Bellsprout shot a green powder out of his mouth that enveloped the wild Spearow. It squawked and tried to fly away, only to fall to the ground in a deep sleep.

"Yes! Nice work, Bellsprout!" Zack said in triumph.

Bellsprout said, "Sprout!" to show Zack its happiness.

Feeling accomplished, Zack recalled Bellsprout and walked back to his house for lunch.

He opened his front door, where his dad was just walking out.

"Oh, hey, Zack." he said. "Alex's dad and I are going fishing again. Want me to catch you anything?"

"Thanks, but no. I like to catch my own Pokémon."

"Okay, then." Zack's father then walked in the direction of Alex's house.

Zack walked inside his house and called, "Mom, I'm home for lunch!"

He walked into the kitchen, where his mom was making ravioli.

Zack's favorite.

"Yes!" Zack said. "Good luck for the tournament, right here."

He was about to dig in when his mother said, "How's that cute girl? The one that was the referee for the match between you and Alex?"

Zack rolled his eyes. He knew where this was going. "I don't have a crush on her, mom." he said, trying to end the conversation. He started eating his ravioli, washing it down with a glass of water. "And I need to get back to training."

"Oh? Has Bellsprout learned any new moves or leveled up?" his mom asked, finally catching on. Zack's Pokémon interested her.

"He learned Sleep Powder and Poison Powder, both of which will help a lot in the tournament. And yes, he leveled up twice." Zack said in between bites.

"By the way, Professor Elm told me what the prize will be." his mom said.

"Let me guess, you're not going to tell me."

She winked at him. "Tomorrow."

Zack finished his ravioli, and set the plate by the sink.

"I'm going back out. Thanks for the ravioli." Zack said, already heading for the front door.

He checked his Pokegear. One message.

 _Slowpoke Well? Quickly?_

Zack checked the sender. It was Alex.

He texted back, _Sure. Be there in 5. You ready for the tournament?_

He quickened his pace to a jog and went in the direction of the Slowpoke Well.

 **Lea**

 **8:31**

Lea was working hard. She had had a breakfast of eggs and toast, which was one of her favorite meals. After she had finished eating, she had sprinted to the battlefield to get in some training before the Azalea Town Tournament started.

"Henry, use Fairy Wind!" she yelled. The Hoppip blew a gust of pink wind at the foam target, knocking it ten feet back and hitting a tree. "Nice work. We'll probably have to use that against Mightyena, so keep it up." Lea told Henry encouragingly.

She had been training all morning. Henry was now level 17, and according to a glance at her Pokedex, he would be level 18 very soon.

Henry's four moves were now Fairy Wind, Synthesis, Stun Spore, and Absorb.

Lea had taught Henry Stun Spore because Professor Elm had told the three of them that status moves were important, and that he said every Pokémon should know at least one.

"Alright, you ready for a challenge?" she asked Henry with a grin.

The Hoppip nodded, breathing hard but smiling.

Lea smiled back. "If this isn't too hard, the challenge is to beat a wild Pokémon without me telling you what to do. So let's go find one."

She walked to the little clump of trees beside her, and punched one. A Pokémon fell out, a wild Heracross, and Henry attacked.

 _Why was a Heracross in a tree?_ she had time to think before she focused on the battle.

Henry used Absorb first, and the Heracross walked straight through the attack.

Lea checked her Pokedex. Absorb had done a little damage to the level 15 Heracross, but only about half as much as it should have.

Then she realized: they had the type disadvantage.

"Henry, use Fairy Wind or Stun Spore. No Grass-type attacks." she said, then remembered she shouldn't be helping.

Henry tried to use Stun Spore, spewing a yellow powder in the direction of the Heracross.

It dodged most of the spores, but a few hit its left arm, disabling it immediately.

The Heracross growled and tried to shake its arm, to no avail.

"Nice work." was all Lea said.

Then the Heracross leapt forward, the claws on its left hand glowing purple. It slashed Henry, who fell to the ground.

And a second later, he got up.

The Hoppip's leaves began spinning faster and faster, and Henry let loose Fairy Wind.

He squeaked in triumph as the blast of pink air hit the Heracross straight in the chest and knocked it ten feet back.

Lea looked at her Pokedex. Fairy Wind had taken away a little less than half of the Heracross's HP bar.

It was taking all of her willpower not to yell out commands. "Keep it up." she said. Henry's HP bar was still at about five-sixths.

The Heracross got up, and was immediately knocked back again by another Fairy Wind.

Its HP bar was close to nothing, and it wasn't moving except for the occasional twitch. She smiled. "You're amazing, Henry."

Silence.

"...Henry?"

She turned.

Her Hoppip was glowing with a white light, shivering. Lea gasped, smiling slowly.

Because she had remembered what it looked like when Kakuna turned into a Beedrill.

This is what it had looked like.

She turned on her Pokedex, tapping on Pokémon then Henry.

But under the Species button, it didn't say Hoppip.

It said Skiploom.

"Yes!" she shouted to the sky. Behind her, there was a squeak.

She turned back to her newly evolved Pokémon.

He had pink, beady eyes, and a new green body. The leaves on top of his head had turned into a beautiful yellow flower, and he now had big floppy ears.

But his adorable little squeak sounded exactly the same.

Lea rushed to the Skiploom in front of her and hugged him really tight, releasing him only after a few seconds. She had completely forgotten about the Heracross behind her.

"You evolved! Look at you!" she said joyfully.

Henry said, "Skip!" and floated around the battlefield.

Lea heard a noise coming from the defeated Heracross. She turned just in time to see a guy throwing a Pokeball at the Pokémon.

The ball hit the Heracross straight in the face, sucking it inside.

The ball wobbled once, then twice.

Then the Heracross burst back out of the ball and ran back into the clump of trees, disappearing from view. Lea turned to the person who had just tried to capture it. It was Samuel Lee.

"What are you doing?!" she shouted at him. "I fought that Heracross and defeated it. You have no right to come and try to catch it."

Samuel looked down at his shoes. "I just need another Pokémon for the tournament. I only have Maggie." he said, holding out a Pokeball with a Remoraid inside of it.

Lea smiled. "Then come with me. Let's go catch your second Pokémon."

His face lit up, and Lea motioned for Henry to move closer.

"Would you please go beat a wild Pokémon," she whispered into his big, green, floppy ear. "And come find me when you do. Thank you, Henry."

The Skiploom nodded and floated off in the direction of the Slowpoke Well.

Lea shrugged and said, "Alright, Sammy. Follow Henry."

He nodded eagerly and jogged behind Henry, with Lea behind him.

 **Zack**

Zack arrived at the Slowpoke Well, where Alex was looking at his watch. He looked up.

"You took four minutes and fifty-eight seconds to get here. Not five." Alex said.

Zack smirked. "I guess I am pretty fast, aren't I?"

Alex rolled his eyes at him. "C'mon, I want to catch something before the tournament. Let's go inside." he said, waving for Zack to follow him into the cave.

They walked inside, where it was fairly dark. Alex pulled a flashlight out of the bag he was carrying and handed it to Zack, who waved it around, shining it on everything around the two of them. A flash of pink caught his attention.

"Hey, look. A Slowpoke." Zack said.

The Slowpoke looked up at him with glittering eyes. Before Zack could squat down to pat its head, Alex said, "Dibs."

Only Zack could have caught Alex's hand before he could throw Beedrill's Pokeball.

"You can catch it. But first, I want to get to know it. You should too." He said, turning back to the Slowpoke, who was looking at Alex with nervous eyes.

"You might want to just ask it to come with you instead of fighting it. That's how Lea met Savvy." Zack said, still patting the Slowpoke. who was now blissfully asleep on its side. He pulled his Pokedex out of his pocket and scanned it.

"Alex, this is a baby. According to the Pokedex, this little guy was born a month ago and it's only level 14." Zack said, his heart melting.

Alex's face softened and he smiled a little. "Should we leave him here?" he asked Zack.

Zack shrugged. "How about you wake him up and ask him what he thinks? After all, you will be his new trainer."

Alex nodded and nudged the baby Slowpoke.

The tiny Pokémon rolled over to look at him and made such an adorable noise that Zack's eyes watered at how cute it was. The noise sounded like a Mareep _baa_ ing underwater.

"So, little guy," Alex started, then looked up at Zack like, _What do I say now?_

Zack rolled his hand in a _Keep moving_ gesture.

The Slowpoke looked up at Zack and made the little noise, pointing behind him.

Zack turned around.

And found himself face-to-face with a Golbat.

He leaped back in shock, tripping over Alex and falling as the Golbat screeched and flapped its wings.

"Why does this always happen in caves?!" Zack said to himself as he got back up. He reached for Onix's Pokeball.

But, as it turned out, he didn't need it.

Alex, who had picked up the baby Slowpoke, dropped the Pokémon as it shook from his grip. Slowpoke dashed forward towards the Golbat, somersaulted twice, and pegged it in the mouth (It was hard not to hit anything else) with a high-power Water Gun. The Golbat crashed to the floor.

Zack whistled. "Now I'm thinking I should have called dibs."

Slowpoke, who had been bouncing on the unconscious Golbat's head for no good reason, trotted back to them and made the adorable noise.

"If you didn't have only one Pokémon, I would have caught this cute guy already." Zack said, shaking his head but grinning.

Alex knelt down in front of the Slowpoke again, and said, "So, little guy. Want to come with me and fight in the Azalea Town Tournament?"

Slowpoke looked behind himself, and then jumped on top of Alex's head and promptly went to sleep. Since this one was a baby, he didn't weigh much.

Just then, Lea and another boy burst into the cavern with a Skiploom behind them.

"Okay, I have so many questions." Lea said. "First off, why are you here? Why is there an unconscious Golbat on the ground? And why does Alex have a Slowpoke sleeping on his head?"

Zack grinned. "One, Alex wanted to catch another Pokémon before the tournament. Two, that Slowpoke defeated it. Three, that is Alex's newest addition to his team."

"And the cutest." Alex said, making Beedrill's Pokeball buzz.

Alex inhaled and tried to comfort his Pokémon. "Sorry, buddy. You're definitely the best fighter."

Lea nodded her understanding. "Samuel and I are here to catch him one more Pokémon before the tournament."

Zack pointed over his shoulder with his thumb at the Pokémon on the ground.

"How about a Golbat?" He asked Samuel, grinning.

As Samuel's eyes lit up and he pulled out a Pokeball to throw at the Golbat, Zack walked over to where Lea was watching.

"Where'd you get the Skiploom? It is yours, right?" he asked her.

She smiled. "You don't recognize him?"

Zack looked at the Pokémon thoughtfully.

 _Him... Lea's Pokémon... Skiploom..._

Zack turned back to Lea, eyes wide. "Henry evolved? That'll help so much in the tournament, especially against Lyn."

Lea nodded happily. "And he knows Fairy Wind now, too, so that should make it easier to defeat her Mightyena."

Samuel walked back to Zack and Lea with his new Golbat's Pokeball in his hand.

"I'm going take him to the Pokémon Center real quick. Thank you all so much!" he said, then dashed out of the cave.

Lea said, "If he ends up winning the tournament, he better come and thank us a million times." she said jokingly.

"Hey guys," Alex said, waving from the mouth of the cave. "I just remembered that we're due at the battlefield at nine o' clock for warm-ups. It's 8:56."

"Well, then we'd better get going, shouldn't we?" Zack said with butterflies in his stomach.

"I'm nervous already." Lea said, Alex quietly agreeing behind her.

Zack smiled. "Alex, you might want to put Slowpoke in a ball. You still technically haven't caught him yet."

"Already did." came the reply.

Zack put his game face on, brushing his hair to the side. "Then let's go win this thing."


	10. The Tournament: Part 1

**Alex**

 **9:14**

"Trainers and spectators, please go to the Azalea Town Gym for the tournament. We have had to move it indoors because of the unexpected rain shower." Professor Elm said over the microphone system for Azalea Town.

The reason for the rain wasn't actually unexpected. When Slowpoke had woken up from his nap on Alex's head, he had yawned long and loud, making clouds form over Azalea Town immediately.

"Thank you, and we'll see you there." He turned the system off and turned to Alex.

"On your journey, your Slowpoke is going to yawn while you're asleep and you'll wake up, soaking wet."

Alex shrugged. "He's worth it. Especially when he evolves, he will be."

The professor seemed to think about that for a moment. Then he said, "Slowpoke evolves into Slowbro at level 37."

Alex nodded. "Alright. Let's get back to the Gym. I don't want to be late."

At the Azalea Town Gym, people were already filing in the door. Alex and Professor Elm walked in through the **Trainers** entry, both picking up an updated tournament chart. Elm had looked at the types of some of the trainers' Pokémon, and moved some people around on the lineup.

Alex spotted Zack and Brent talking a few feet away, and walked over to them.

"Do you think anyone's placing bets on this?" he asked the two with a small smile.

"Oh, hey, Alex." Brent said in greeting. "And yeah, I know that Zack's dad bet him against you. Your dad did vice versa."

"I knew that was coming." Alex said, nodding.

"Hey, Zack. Alex. Brent."

Alex turn to the voice. It was Grace.

Zack waved. "I'm battling you in the first round, aren't I?" he asked her.

She nodded, smiling.

They continued their conversation, but Alex didn't hear the rest. He had noticed three trainers at the edge of the Gym.

Alex recognized Levi, who was wearing a black-and-teal sport outfit that matched the other two triplets'. The girl had two Pokeballs in her braid, while the two boys had throwing ropes with their two Pokeballs on them.

Throwing ropes were lengths of rope that held Pokeballs. To throw a ball, all you had to do was snap it forward like a whip. The first Pokeball on the rope would go spinning where you aimed.

Alex pulled out his tournament chart.

LeBrusco, Levi- Honchkrow, Zubat

LeBrusco, Liam- Houndour, Arbok

LeBrusco, Lyn- Mightyena, Salandit

 _They all have a Dark-type and a Poison-type. Hmmm..._

Alex folded the chart back up then turned on his Pokegear.

Messages

Zack Austin, Lea Coleman

 _Triplets all have poison and dark type. Find a way to counter that if you can._

He put the Pokegear back in his pocket. He saw Zack frown and look at his own Pokegear, then look at Alex and nod.

The spectators of the tournament were still filing into the Gym, and filling up the stands that were set up for the day. Alex waved at his parents.

"We need all trainers to please report to the front of the gym for final registration. The tournament will be starting in 15 minutes." Professor Elm's voice said.

Alex hurried to where the professor had said to go. Bugsy, the gym leader of Azalea Gym, was waiting there.

"Name?" Bugsy asked Alex.

"Alex Gunter." he replied.

The gym leader turned and flipped through a few sheets of paper, then turned back to him.

"Alex Gunter, with a Slowpoke and a... Beedrill. Huh. I'll enjoy watching you. Good luck."

He handed Alex a sheet of paper with his name, Pokémon, and a number 1.

"Keep up with that, and please go sit on that bench over there." Bugsy said, pointing to Alex's left.

Alex walked to the bench and sat down, watching the other trainers go collect their sheet of paper and sit down near him. When the last trainer, Lea, sat down, Bugsy tapped the microphone in front of him.

"Thank you all for coming to the first-ever Azalea Town Tournament!"

Cheering.

"I can't wait to see what these trainers have up their sleeve. Without further ado, let's start the first match! The trainers are Alex Gunter and Evan Webb."

Cheering.

 _Let's do this._

Alex waked onto the battlefield confidently, with Evan going to the opposite side.

"Go Alex!" Alex heard a yell that he knew was Zack.

Bugsy was now in the referee's box. "Trainers ready? In this tournament, once one of your Pokémon is unable to battle, the other trainer wins. You may switch your Pokémon out whenever you want, however many times you want. There are no items allowed." he called to them.

Evan saluted Alex with two fingers from across the field.

"Go!" Bugsy yelled.

Alex smiled. "Let's go, Beedrill." He tossed Beedrill's ball onto the battlefield.

The Poison Bee Pokémon appeared in a flash of white light and buzzed as a Geodude appeared on the other side of the field. The Geodude smacked its fist into its palm menacingly.

Alex laughed quietly. In his experience, Pokémon that acted scary were usually the exact opposite once you battled them.

Despite the type disadvantage, Alex's plan would make this easy.

If his plan worked.

"Beedrill, don't be afraid to attack it, but try to lead the Geodude over here near me. If this works, then the rest of the battle will be cake." Alex said in a low voice to his Pokémon, who nodded without looking back.

"Twineedle!" Alex yelled.

Beedrill rushed the Geodude with blinding speed, the spikes on his arms glowing purple. He lunged, but was tackled backwards by Geodude before any serious damage could be done.

"Rock Throw!" Alex heard from across the field.

Geodude scooped a rock from the ground and hurled it at Beedrill. Without being told, Beedrill used Fury Attack and blasted the rock to pieces.

"Again!" Evan had a bad habit of yelling all of his commands, so it was easy to block and dodge.

Beedrill used Twineedle and landed a serious hit on Geodude. Even though Bug-type attacks weren't super effective, the attack still knocked out some HP for Geodude.

Seeing his speed was outmatched, Evan yelled, "Magnitude!"

Alex rolled his eyes.

 _Don't tell me-_

Geodude started shaking the ground, which did nothing. Beedrill was simply hovering above the ground.

"Twineedle. Now." Alex said. Beedrill lunged for Geodude, trying to land a critical hit. His spikes glowed purple.

The Geodude was still using Magnitude, keeping it in place for a few more seconds.

A few seconds was all that Beedrill needed.

He leapt onto Geodude, slashing it twice. Then, with tremendous effort, Beedrill threw Geodude near where Alex was standing.

 _Perfect._

"Come back!" Alex said, recalling Beedrill and throwing Slowpoke's Pokeball at the same time.

Slowpoke landed on top of Geodude and rolled off. The Water- and Psychic-type trotted to the middle of the battlefield and turned in a full circle.

 _Show-off,_ Alex thought with a grin.

The Geodude got up and shook itself, not done yet. Then, just like he had done with the Golbat at Slowpoke Well, Slowpoke dashed towards the Geodude.

He somersaulted twice and then jumped onto Evan's Pokémon, making it fall to the ground again while trying to shake Slowpoke off.

Evan yelled commands that Alex couldn't make out, and apparently neither could Geodude.

"Now, Water Gun!" Alex yelled.

Slowpoke made his adorable noise before shooting a jet of pressurized water at the Geodude, launching Alex's Pokémon three feet in the air.

Alex scanned the Rock- and Ground-type with his Pokedex. Water Gun had been super effective, so Geodude was at about a quarter of its original HP.

"Switch out." Alex recalled Slowpoke and sent Beedrill back into the battle.

Evan was watching the outcome nervously.

"Geodude, return." he said, apparently realizing he still had another Pokémon.

Alex, on the other hand, had been expecting this.

"Use Pursuit!" he said to Beedrill.

Before Geodude could return to its Pokeball, Beedrill sliced at the air with both arms.

Black waves of energy emanated from his wings and _zing_ ed towards Evan's Geodude.

The black energy slashed into Geodude, cutting away at its HP until it was knocked out.

Evan's Pokémon crashed to the ground, unconscious.

Bugsy stepped forward, holding up the flag on Alex's side.

"Geodude is unable to battle. The match goes to Alex Gunter."

Alex whooped in joy, lost in the cheering of the spectators.

"That was amazing, Beedrill! Great job!" he said, clapping. He threw Slowpoke's ball on the ground, and picked up the pink Pokémon.

He squeezed the adorable Lazy Pokémon, who _maa_ ed and nudged Alex's arm affectionately.

Evan was walking over to where Alex was standing.

"That was impressive. I never even got to use Joltik." he said, clapping Alex on the back. "Good job."

They shook hands, and then Evan walked to where his parents were sitting in the stands.

Alex walked back to the bench, ready for the next battle.


	11. The Tournament: Part 2

**Zack**

After watching Alex battle, Zack was feeling nervous that he would lose to Alex in the top four. The strategy that Slowpoke had used would defeat Onix quickly if Zack didn't think of something. And even though Bellsprout was a Grass-type, which had the type advantage against Slowpoke, it was also a Poison-type, which had the disadvantage.

But then again, Bellsprout knew Power Whip, so that could possibly defeat Slowpoke.

Zack heard cheering, and he shook his head to clear his thinking. Trent Anderson and Chase Camrell had just finished their battle, with a surprising victory for Chase.

Seeing Chase had a Gible and Amaura, he was an impressive trainer. But Trent had a Luxio and a Poliwag, so it was a close match.

When the clapping died down, Zack saw who was now walking up to the field.

It was that guy. Levi LeBrusco. He was wearing a teal-and-black sports suit with some sort of rope in his hand.

Samuel Lee, the guy that was at the cave with Lea, was also walking up onto the battlefield.

"The next battle is Levi LeBrusco versus Samuel Lee." said Bugsy over the announcement system.

Brent leaned over. "Did he say Tobasco? Like, the hot sauce?" he asked, genuinely confused.

Zack grinned. "It's LeBrusco, and cross your fingers that he loses."

Brent shrugged, smiling. Then he proceeded to cross his fingers, arms, and legs.

"I'm not going to cross my eyes for that long." he said.

"I feel kinda bad for Trent. I fully expected him to win at least the first round." Zack said, glancing over at where Trent was sitting with his parents.

Then he turned back to watch the current battle.

"Go!" Bugsy yelled.

Levi tossed a Pokeball on the ground, which turned out to be a Honchkrow, probably an evolved form of the Murkrow they saw in Ilex Forest.

Samuel sent out his newly caught Golbat, who made its loud screech when it appeared in a flash of white light.

"Ooh, an air battle. This should be interesting." Zack said to himself.

Samuel's Golbat flew up to the roof of the Gym, while the Honchkrow was just sitting there, watching the Golbat.

Levi said something to Honchkrow, but Zack couldn't make it out. The Pokémon soared up to where Golbat was flapping its wings.

The battlefield went dark.

There was a screech from were the two Pokémon had been a moment before.

Beside Zack, Brent grimaced. "Sucker Punch." he said, shaking his head.

Zack frowned. "Never heard of that one."

The lights came back on on the field. Golbat was lying on its face on Samuel's side, and Honchkrow was preening its wings.

Golbat struggled up onto its feet, then seemed to get some energy back.

Zack checked his Pokedex. Apparently, right after the Sucker Punch from Honchkrow, Golbat had used Absorb and stolen some energy from Honchkrow.

Golbat screeched again and a peculiar-looking beam of light shot towards the Honchkrow, coming from the Golbat.

Honchkrow evaded the Confuse Ray by leaping to the side, but only barely.

Levi seemed to think that Honchkrow was too slow, so he recalled it.

He then pulled his rope out of his pocket and slung a Pokeball on it. He flicked the rope like a whip, and sent the ball flying, landing right behind Golbat.

A Zubat appeared out of the ball. It flew up to the ceiling and shot a Supersonic ray at Golbat, who took it straight in the wing.

Golbat crashed to the ground, confused. Zack saw Samuel put his hands on his head.

Since Samuel hadn't had much time to bond with his Golbat, and he wasn't the trainer that had earned the capture, Golbat was slow and didn't respond to Samuel's commands quickly.

Samuel shook his head.

"Come on back, Buddy. Maggie, it's up to you." he said, his voice echoing from the Trainers' microphone.

A Remoraid appeared and hovered just above the field floor.

Water-type Pokémon obviously couldn't just lie on the ground, so they had the ability to hover, not fly, about a foot above the ground.

"Water Gun." said Samuel, making Levi shake his head.

Maggie shot a jet of water at Zubat, who did nothing except flap its wings a bit to the left. The Water Gun flew harmlessly past it, and Zubat returned fire with Supersonic, which hit the Remoraid head-on.

"You just don't learn, do you?" Levi said, grinning. He recalled Zubat and sent Honchkrow back out.

"Honchkrow, use Night Slash twice."

The Honchkrow's right wing glowed violet, and it took to the skies, making a loop-de-loop before coming down to slash Maggie, front and back.

The Remoraid struggled to keep floating.

Levi crossed his arms. "Wing Attack."

Instead of purple, Honchkrow's right wing glowed white. Almost in contempt, it waddled forward, its wing still glowing, and smacked the Remoraid.

Bugsy stepped forward. "Remoraid is unable to battle. The match goes to Levi..." she looked at her chart. "LeBrusco. Congratulations."

Levi walked to the bench to claps on the back from his brother and the person on the other side of him.

Zack rubbed his hands together in anticipation. If he won his match, he would battle Levi.

However, Zack had been watching Levi fight, and now knew his battle strategy.

"The next match is Grace Golden versus Zack Austin. Trainers, please take your places on the field." Bugsy announced.

Grace got up from her spot at the end of the bench and walked up the steps to the battlefield, Zack following.

He got on one side, she got on the other.

"Trainers ready?"

Zack nodded, then Grace.

"Go."

"Onix. Let's make this quick and easy." he said, throwing Onix's Pokeball. The Rock Snake Pokémon appeared silently, making Lea laugh from the bench.

Grace was using Togetic, which scared Zack a little bit. Onix's Speed compared to the Togetic's wasn't that great.

"Use Curse, get your Attack and Defense up. We won't win with Speed on this one."

Onix nodded. She roared, and pinkish-red lights rose from her tail up to her head.

Grace's Togetic was still just watching.

"Curse again."

Onix repeated the move.

"Try Rock Throw. Aim for the wings."

Onix scooped a rock from the customized battlefield and hurled it at the Togetic.

Grace's Pokémon leapt to the left, dodging the rock but being hit by the shrapnel from impact.

"Magical Leaf!" Zack heard from the other side of the field.

 _Oh, no._

"Onix, use Gyro Ball! Exactly like we practiced!" Zack yelled, beginning to get worried.

As the pink-glowing leaves rushed towards Onix, she started spinning like a bullet, getting faster and faster. The spike on her forehead started to glow blue, and a light-blue ring formed around her.

Right before the leaves hit her, Zack yelled, "Now!"

Onix rushed forward towards Togetic, disregarding the leaves embedding in her rocks. She tackled Togetic at full speed, dealing serious damage.

Gyro Ball was the perfect move in this match, especially when paired with Curse. Curse raised Attack and Defense, but lowered Speed. And the lower the Pokémon's speed was, the more damage Gyro Ball did.

Zack quickly turned on his Pokedex and tapped Pokémon. He winced.

Gyro Ball had done some good damage to Togetic's HP bar, but Magical Leaf was an attack that never missed. And it was super effective against Onix.

At the moment, Grace was winning.

But then, Togetic started flying. It hovered face-to-face with Onix, waiting for Grace's command.

Onix looked back at Zack, already guessing what he was going to say.

Zack nodded. "Smack Down."

It almost looked like she was smiling.

Onix turned around and roared at the Togetic for effect. Then, as Togetic tried to fly above her reach, Onix reached up with her tail and slammed the Togetic in the back, making it crash to the ground.

Zack looked back at his Pokedex. One-quarter HP.

Just then, Grace yelled, "Use Yawn!"

"Rock Throw, quickly!" Zack shouted, realizing what would happen if he didn't act soon.

But, thanks to Curse and Yawn, "quickly" wasn't in Onix's vocabulary. She picked a boulder up from the ground and threw it, only for Togetic to easily dodge it.

The reason for all the boulders and leaves is that the battlefield was personalized, meaning that objects for different types were available. There were bushes, boulders, pools of water, gems, and air cannons for Flying-types.

Zack shook his head and recalled Onix. He pulled out Bellsprout's Pokeball, enlarged it, and tossed it on the ground in front of himself.

Bellsprout appeared in a flash of white light.

"Sleep Powder." Zack told Bellsprout. He nodded.

Bellsprout inhaled deeply, then shot out a rain of bluish-white powder that settled over the startled Togetic.

"Blow it away!" Zack heard from the other side of the battlefield.

Togetic did not respond. It was in a deep sleep.

Grace recalled Togetic and threw her other Pokeball.

Zack smiled. Her other Pokémon was a Marill, which had a type disadvantage against Bellsprout.

The Aqua Mouse Pokémon appeared in front of Grace, squeaking and ready for battle.

"Poison Powder and Sleep Powder from different directions." Zack told his Pokémon, hoping his plan would work.

Bellsprout quickly shot Sleep Powder from Zack's left, then hurried over to his right and shot a purple powder towards the Marill.

Neither attack hit it. The Marill had turned around and spun its tail like a fan, blowing the powder into the middle of the field.

Then its tail started to glow a light blue, and it waited just long enough for Zack to give a warning of, "Aqua Tail. It's close combat, so use Power Whip when you can."

Instead, when Marill leaped forward to attack, Bellsprout formed a ball of green light in front of himself, then shot it at the Marill.

The Energy Ball hit Marill in the lower body, which put it off-balance for Aqua Tail. Marill crashed to the ground.

Before Marill could get up, it started glowing with a white light. Across the field, Grace gasped audibly.

Then Zack realized- Bellsprout was glowing too.

The entire gym was quiet, watching the two Pokémon. Five seconds passed.

Then they both stopped glowing.

Bellsprout was now a Weepinbell.

Marill was now an Azumarill.

"Power Whip!" Zack yelled, hoping to catch Azumarill off guard. It worked.

Azumarill was so interested in its new form that it didn't see Weepinbell coming, its leaves glowing purple.

 _Slash!_

Bugsy stepped onto the field, holding up the flag on Zack's side of the field.

"Azumarill is unable to battle. The winner of this battle is Zack Austin."

"Nice match, Grace!" he called to the girl walking off the field.

As Zack did the same, he caught sight of one of the triplets, not Levi or the girl, it was...

Zack checked his tournament chart. It was Eva Tailor against Liam LeBrusco.

Zack sat down on the bench to a fist bump from Chase and Alex. Brent tried to give him one, but his fingers, arms, and legs were still crossed.

For the next few battles, the outcomes were easy to predict.

Liam, with his Houndour and his Ekans that evolved into an Arbok during battle, defeated Eva's Linoone and Houndour fairly quickly.

Brent's Luxio and Nidorino defeated Amy's Hoothoot and Butterfree, mainly because of the type advantage from Luxio against two Flying-types. He did the entire battle with his fingers crossed.

Lyn's Mightyena defeated Chloe's Miltank and Natu single-handedly, without her even bringing out Salandit.

Now, it was time for Lea's battle against Mitchell.

 **Lea**

Lea walked up onto the battlefield after shaking hands with Mitchell.

"Trainers ready? Go!" Bugsy called from the sidelines.

"As soon as you see the other Pokémon, slam it with Rollout." Lea whispered to Savvy's Pokeball, then threw it.

The Sandshrew appeared, crouched. As a Murkrow appeared on the other side of the field, Savvy sprung forward, rolling towards the Dark- and Flying-type Pokémon.

She slammed into it with such force that it fell over. Lea looked at her Pokedex.

Rollout had been a critical hit, adding to the already super-effective attack. Mitchell's Murkrow was already at low HP.

This would be a quick battle.

"Use Swift. You're amazing."

Lea found that encouraging her two Pokémon often resulted in more happiness and compliance in battle. At least, it helped Savvy power through.

Savvy rolled around, building up energy for another slam. The opposing Murkrow seemed to be building up energy as well.

"Use plan number three." Lea whispered. Savvy stopped rolling and looked at her questioningly. "Swift. Keep rolling then pop out, remember?"

Savvy, being the very understanding Pokémon she was, nodded once and continued rolling.

Then, she rushed towards Mitchell's Pokémon.

Right before she rammed into Murkrow, she leapt to the side and narrowly avoided the dark crimson beam of light that the Murkrow had aimed at her. That was Night Shade.

"Now!" Lea yelled, signaling for Savvy to use Swift.

Savvy curled up again and spun in place, forming yellow stars around her. Then she uncurled and swished her tail, shooting the stars at the Murkrow from close range.

Every star hit its target.

Bugsy stepped forward. "Murkrow is unable to battle. The match goes to Lea Coleman."

Everyone cheered.

"HEAL BREAK!" Bugsy yelled over the noise to the trainers on the bench.

The Azalea Town Gym Leader walked over to Lea.

"That was impressive. Your match was the fastest by almost two full minutes." he said, giving her a thumbs-up.

"Now go to the Pokémon Center and get ready for the next round, and good luck."

Bugsy leaned in conspiratorially. "To be honest, I want you or the trainer with the Beedrill to win. I'd love to battle you."

Lea exhaled. "If Alex wins, I'd never hear the end of it."

"My money's on you two." Bugsy said, and walked to the microphone.

He tapped the mic a few times to see if it was working, then cleared his throat.

"May I have your attention, please?" He waited for the Gym to quiet down before he continued.

"I'm here to announce the prize for winning the tournament."

Everyone was silent.

"First, congratulations to the trainers who won their first match. All of your battles were fun to watch."

Bugsy tapped something on a screen behind the system, and a picture of the tournament chart appeared on the wall above his head. All of the winners' names had moved up, while the losers' names were dark.

"This is the current chart for the next set. Alex against Chase, Levi against Zack, Brent against Liam, and Lyn against Lea."

The buzz in the room was probably people taking bets on the battles.

"So without further ado, this is the prize!"

Bugsy brought a large bucket from a table near him, and took the cover off.

"An official Evolution Stone set by the Silph Company!

"This stone set contains five Water Stones, five Thunder Stones, five Fire Stones, four Leaf Stones, two Moon Stones, two Sun Stones, two Shiny Stones, two Dusk Stones, two Dawn Stones, and one Ice Stone! Imagine having all of those in your bag!"

He waited for the spectators to stop _ooh_ ing and _ahh_ ing.

"The runner-up gets one of each stone, which is still pretty good. So, that's all I have to say. When every trainer is back from their break, we'll start the next round."

Lea gasped. She hadn't gone to the Pokémon Center yet!

She rushed out the door of the Gym, calling Zack on her Pokegear as she ran.

"What's up?" came his voice from her wrist.

"Zack, one of us needs to win or get runner-up in this tournament!"

"Yeah, that's kinda the point. What's the rush, though?"

"Because the prize is an Evolution Stone set by Silph Company! Do you know how helpful that could be on our journey? After all, we're leaving Azalea Town right after the tournament, aren't we?"

Lea arrived at the Pokémon Center, where she saw Zack leaning on the wall.

His camouflage cap was in his hands, and his hair was ruffled where the cap had left imprints.

The Pokeball belt through his jeans had only one ball on it.

Lea turned off her Pokegear. "Zack." she said simply, waving as she gave her Pokémon to Nurse Joy.

She looked around the room. The triplets were all sitting in one corner.

"Liam LeBrusco?" called Nurse Joy. Levi's brother got up, received his Arbok and Houndour, and walked out the door.

"Zack Austin? Your Weepinbell is ready." Zack walked up, took his Pokémon with a quick thanks to the nurse, and walked over to where Lea was sitting.

"Alex's already back at the Gym. Did you see his Beedrill battling against the Geodude? I'm kind of scared to battle him, but he still has to get through Chase. That Gible and Amaura will definitely be tough."

Lea nodded absentmindedly.

"Hey, you're up against Lyn this round, aren't you?" Zack asked, nudging her shoulder with his.

She nodded again.

"Well then, remember Fairy Wind." he said, waving as he walked towards the door.

Lea looked up. "What? How do you know about that?"

Zack held up his Pokedex. "In battle, you can see Pokémon's movesets."

He opened the door, then looked back at Lea. "Good luck. But I doubt you'll need it." he winked.

The door shut, and Lea wondered if she really wouldn't need the luck.

"Lea Coleman?" Nurse Joy called. "Your Skiploom and Sandslash are ready."


	12. The Tournament: Part 3

**Lea**

 **9:58**

Lea's brow creased.

"I'm sorry, I don't own a Sandslash. I own a Sandshrew."

Nurse Joy smiled. "Well then, congratulations. She must have been evolving while you put her back in her Pokeball."

Lea's eyes widened.

She heard a voice behind her.

"This will be a close match. Mightyena and Salandit will enjoy it."

Lea knew who it was before she turned around. She smiled.

"Nice to finally meet you. Are you better than your brother?"

Lyn smirked. "Levi or Liam?"

"Levi. I completely creamed his Murkrow, well, when it was still a Murkrow."

"Way better."

"Good, I like a challenge. What about Liam? Are you better than him?"

"No. I think it's safe to say he'll win this tournament, get the stones, and use it to..."

"Use it to what?" Lea pressed on.

"Team Twilight has been tracking a certain Pokémon for weeks now. The energy from the Evolution Stones would upgrade the tracking system tenfold, and possibly even attract the Pokémon we're searching for. This Pokémon would make our dream of becoming Champion of a region quite easy."

"And what Pokémon would that be?"

Lyn looked at Lea with a smile that never reached her eyes. "That's all you need to know."

Lea sighed and walked out the door, wondering why some people were so confusing.

 _What did she say? Team Twilight? What in the world is that?_

Lea jogged up the stairs to the gym.

She turned on her Pokegear as she walked, and hit Friends, then Zack.

 _Good luck against Levi, but I don't think you'll need it._

She hit Send, then turned the Pokegear off as she sat down on the bench, waving to Alex.

"Alright, folks, all trainers are back, so we will be continuing our next four battles!" Bugsy's voice echoed over the intercom.

"There has been a change in the tournament chart due to type matchups, so Levi LeBrusco will be battling Alex Gunter instead of Zack Austin."

Lea frowned. That had probably made Alex very frustrated.

He walked to the referee's spot on the battlefield as Alex and Levi walked onto opposite sides.

"Trainers ready..."

Levi winked at Alex.

"Go!"

 **Alex**

Alex threw Beedrill's Pokeball.

The Poison Bee Pokémon appeared as Levi's Honchkrow did the same across the field. Beedrill hissed.

"Well, let's get started. Venoshock." Beedrill jabbed the air with the spikes on his arms, making several dark purple blobs float in the air. He then hit each one in turn, sending them flying towards Honchkrow.

The Honchkrow flew upwards right before the blasts hit it, provoking Beedrill into taking to the air as well.

The battlefield went dark.

"Beedrill, don't stop moving. Keep flying around." Alex commanded, remembering Levi's last battle.

Alex heard the constant buzzing of Beedrill's wings around the field, then felt a rush of air close to his head. Honchkrow had aimed for the spot that it had last seen Alex's Pokémon.

"Fury Attack!" Alex yelled as the lights came back on, hoping Beedrill would understand.

Beedrill swooped down on Honchkrow, stabbing it four times with the spikes on its arms then flying away again.

Alex checked his Pokedex. The attack had only done a small bit of damage to Honchkrow's HP bar.

"Night Slash!" came a yell to Honchkrow from across the field. Levi was standing straight up with his hands behind his back, his expression concerned.

 _Well, good. I made him nervous. Then again, Lea completely creamed him, so..._

"Use Twineedle on the wing." Alex said, watching Levi's Pokémon approach, wing glowing purple.

Beedrill's spikes glowed purple as well, and he lunged at Honchkrow's glowing wing, spikes crossed and ready to slash.

 _BANG!_

The two Pokémon were both thrown backwards in opposite directions, Honchkrow on Alex's side and Beedrill on Levi's.

Just as a joke, Alex said to Honchkrow, "Don't attack Beedrill."

Honchkrow immediately flew towards Beedrill, its left wing glowing bright white.

Then, he yelled across the field, "Venoshock!"

Beedrill jabbed the air in several places, making the purple blobs float in the air, then jabbed the blobs again, sending them flying towards Honchkrow.

"Follow-up!" It wasn't a Pokémon move, but it was a signal for Beedrill to immediately use another move of his choice.

As soon as he launched Venoshock, Beedrill lunged at Honchkrow. The Big Boss Pokémon tried to fly up, but Beedrill zipped above it and kicked it back down, making Venoshock hit it. Then, he used Twineedle on Honchkrow just for good measure.

After he stopped laughing, Alex checked his Pokedex. The Honchkrow was badly poisoned and had very low HP.

Levi recalled it. "I guess it's just up to Zubat, then." he said, tossing a Pokeball on the floor.

A Golbat popped out in a flash of white light. Levi looked it up and down.

"Sweet." he said, rubbing his hands together. "Supersonic, then Astonish."

The Golbat shot alternating blue, yellow, and grey circles that followed Beedrill around, slowly getting bigger.

Beedrill was buzzing around the field, trying not to get hit by the confusion-inducing attack. Golbat suddenly appeared in front of it, with a shadow making a horrifying face at Beedrill. Beedrill was frozen in fear.

Levi's Pokémon had used Astonish.

Golbat waited for all of the Supersonic waves to hit him, then headbutted him so he fell over.

Alex shook his head. When Beedrill was confused, he would do more damage to himself than to Golbat.

Alex recalled his Pokémon and sent out Slowpoke.

"Confusion!" he said to the pink Pokémon. He knew Psychic-type moves were super effective against Poison-types like Golbat.

Slowpoke's eyes glowed blue, and Golbat glowed the same color. It zoomed upwards, then crashed to the floor as the blue glow faded.

"Yawn." Alex said, hoping Golbat wouldn't have time to avoid the status move.

It didn't.

Golbat was still getting off the ground when it was effected by the yawn, making its mouth open even wider than it already was.

"Absorb!" Levi yelled from across the field.

Green sparkles started to form around Slowpoke.

"Disable." Alex said, successfully stopping the most dangerous move.

Slowpoke glowed blue again and stopped Golbat from using the attack for the rest of the battle.

"Confusion again." Slowpoke's eyes turned bright blue.

Again, Golbat crashed to the ground.

Smiling, Bugsy said, "Golbat is unable to battle. Alex Gunter wins this match."

The spectators cheered.

The Azalea Gym leader grabbed Alex's arm as he walked off the battlefield.

"Come see me after the tournament, ok? I need to see something." Bugsy requested. Then, seeing the worried look on Alex's face, he said, "Don't worry, the reason I asked is that your Beedrill is exceptional in battle. And nice job with the win on such short notice."

Alex breathed a sigh of relief. "You got it." he said, then went back to sit on the bench.

Then it hit him: _he had made it to the top four._ The Pokedex was officially his.

Bugsy returned to his place at the side of the field. "The next match is now Zack Austin versus Chase Camrell."

 **Zack**

Zack was nervous. First of all, he had been thinking up strategy for battling Levi, so he was unprepared for battling Chase's Gible and Amaura. Second of all, if he lost, he wouldn't earn his Pokedex.

Zack walked up to his side of the field. Chase waved at him from the other side, crossing his fingers with the other hand.

"Trainers ready... go!"

Zack sent out Onix, who appeared silently. Chase's Gible appeared across the field.

"Aerial Ace!" called Chase.

 _No way._

Gible became surrounded in streaks of white light and hurled itself at Onix.

"Use Rock Throw." Zack said quietly.

Onix roared as she picked up a boulder and launched it at the charging Gible, who broke through it with seemingly no effort.

Chase's Pokémon slammed into Onix, who roared as she fell to the ground.

It soared into the air for another strike.

"Smack Down." Zack said, hoping Gible wouldn't smash through Onix's tail.

Onix got up surprisingly fast and slammed her tail into Gible's back, making it crash to the ground.

Gible and Onix were both Ground-types, so some of the moves they used had little to no effect on the other Pokémon.

"Rock Throw."

As soon as Onix threw a boulder at the opposing Pokémon, Zack recalled her and sent out Weepinbell.

"Energy Ball!"

The Flycatcher Pokémon formed a ball of green light at the rim of his mouth and fired it at Gible, who took it straight in the face.

Zack checked his Pokedex. Energy Ball had been super effective and a critical hit, so Gible was down to low health.

Chase yelled, "Flamethrower!" Gible shot a weak line of fire at Onix, who didn't move as the fire dissipated 10 feet away.

Chase switched his Pokémon to Amaura, and Zack switched back to Onix. Amaura was weak to Grass-types, but Weepinbell was weak to Ice-types. However, Amaura was also weak to Rock-types, and Onix was weak to Ground-types and Ice-types, so there was a weakness on both sides in whatever matchup they chose.

"Ice Beam!" Chase yelled.

Blue lines of energy appeared in front of Amaura's mouth, then a ball of the same energy formed.

Amaura pointed the ball at Onix, and a beam of freezing cold energy shot out.

Onix twisted to avoid the attack, but just like in Zack's last battle, she just wasn't fast enough. The beam hit her in the spine, dealing serious damage.

"Rock Throw."

Onix hurled a boulder at Amaura, who narrowly dodged it and did a side roll to the edge of the field. Both Pokémon were extremely tired.

"Now, Hyper Beam!"

 _You've got to be kidding me._

Onix twisted and turned to avoid the beam of light shooting towards her. She wasn't fast enough.

The beam hit her in the forehead, making her fall to the ground. Zack checked his Pokedex. She had about 1 HP left.

He sent out Weepinbell.

"Hyper Beam again!" Chase yelled as Zack yelled, "Power Whip!"

Weepinbell sprung forward as Amaura inhaled.

And the Grass- and Poison-type Pokémon landed a direct hit on Amaura with no counterattack.

Bugsy stepped forward. "Amaura is unable to battle! Zack Austin is the winner of this match."

As the spectators cheered, Zack walked to Chase's side of the battlefield.

Chase shook his hand. "Nice match. I forgot Hyper Beam had a cooldown time."

Zack clapped him on the back. "Yeah. Nice battle, anyway."

They walked back to the bench.

"The next match is between Brent Anderson and Levi LeBrusco."

 **Lea**

The battle between Brent and Levi wasn't even close. Both of Brent's Pokémon were at low health before they could even get one of Liam's to half its max HP.

"Lea Coleman and Lyn LeBrusco are the next trainers."

Lea stepped up onto the field. Lyn was already on the other side.

"Trainers ready... go!"

Lea sent out Henry. He flipped in the air as Mightyena appeared across the field.

"Fairy Wind!" Lea started with her most effective move.

Henry spun the flower on his head, sending a gust of sparkling wind rushing towards Mightyena. The Dark-type Pokemon was startled by the attack and wasn't able to dodge it in time, so took half of the damage from Fairy Wind.

Lyn's Pokémon growled. "Ice Fang!" Lyn commanded.

Great.

Lea quickly switched out her Pokémon. Savvy appeared as a newly evolved Sandslash.

"Rollout!"

As Mightyena rushed forward with glowing teeth, Savvy spun forward with incredible speed.

As the Sandslash rammed into Mightyena, the opposing Pokémon sank its light blue-glowing teeth into Henry's underbelly.

Lea smacked her forehead. Ice-type moves were still super effective against Savvy, a Ground-type. According to her Pokedex, that attack had taken half of Savvy's HP bar.

She switched out again. "Fairy Wind!" Her Skiploom repeated the move it had used earlier in the battle.

Right before the attack hit Mightyena, Lyn sent out Salandit and recalled her other Pokémon. The Fairy Wind passed harmlessly by.

"Ember!" Salandit shot a ball of fire towards the Skiploom, knocking the Cottonweed Pokémon to the ground. Henry had barely any HP left.

Lea sent out Savvy again. "Magnitude!"

The Salandit had no way of getting off the ground. Savvy became surrounded with a brown aura and leapt high in the air.

Midair, she pointed her left claw down at the ground and dived, embedding her entire hand in the battlefield.

The field shook violently, severely damaging Salandit but not enough to decide the match.

Lyn sent Mightyena back out.

"Ice Fang."

"Rollout."

The two Pokémon rushed towards each other, Savvy rolling and Mightyena sprinting.

They collided, and Savvy fell to the ground.

"Sandslash is unable to battle. The match goes to Lyn LeBrusco."

Lea didn't hear anything else.

She had lost.

She walked off the field in a daze, disappointed and sad. All she could do now was hope that Alex or Zack could win it.

Not both.

Because the next battle was between them.

 **Zack**

Zack patted Lea on the back. Lyn had only won by a fraction of speed and strength.

Now, he walked with her and Alex to the Pokémon Center.

"You know we're battling each other next, right?" Alex said, fidgeting with a string on his T-shirt.

"Yeah." was all Zack said. He turned to his best friend. "You know, I'm not sure our Pokémon will be able to battle each other. They might have bonded too much."

"I doubt it. At least, Beedrill and Onix will enjoy it. And we both know each other's strategies, so it will be even more fun." Alex said with a small smile.

Zack opened the door to the Center and held it for Alex and Lea to go through. They walked to the front.

"How many Pokémon? I assume two each?" Nurse Joy said cheerfully, taking the Pokeballs from their outstretched hands.

"So, who won their battles? We need to take care of their Pokémon first."

"Zack Austin and Alex Gunter."

The nurse smiled. "Oh, I love your Onix."

She took the first four Pokeballs to the room in the back, and Alex walked over to pet a trainer's Furret.

Zack turned to Lea. "Seriously, why does she keep saying she loves my Onix? I think that's the third time. It's nice, and I love my Onix too, but still."

Lea grinned. "Zack, you know you only talk this much when you're nervous."

"I am nervous."

"Who do you think will win?"

"I hope it will be me. We're kind of equally matched."

"Well, I'm rooting for you. Don't tell Alex."

"Ha. I won't." Zack said with a small smile.

Nurse Joy called, "Zack and Alex, your Pokémon are ready."

He received his two Pokeballs as Alex came up and took his own.

Zack clapped him on the shoulder.

"Good luck."

Alex grinned nervously. "I'll need it."

Zack laughed. "C'mon, let's go."

They jogged back to the Azalea Town Gym.

When they got there, Brent rushed to them with wide eyes. "Get up there! They're about to skip your battle!"


	13. The Tournament: Part 4

**Zack**

Zack sprinted up the steps, Alex right behind him.

"And... oh, here they are! Alright, let's start the top 4 of the Azalea Town Tournament." Bugsy's voice echoed across the microphone system.

Zack jogged to his place on the field, out of breath. Alex was doing the same on the other side.

"Trainers ready..."

Alex pulled a Pokeball out of his pocket and enlarged it.

Zack did the same with Onix's.

"Go!"

Zack curveballed Onix's ball to the center of the field. Alex called out Beedrill, who zipped to Zack's side and aimed his spikes at Zack's Pokémon. Onix roared.

"Smack Down!"

She twisted and launched herself at Beedrill, who zipped out of the way.

"Follow-up with Gyro Ball!"

As Onix fell, she spun like a drill and slammed into Beedrill, doing quite a bit of damage. Beedrill was an extremely fast Pokémon, unlike Onix, making Gyro Ball a good move for this battle.

"Venoshock!" Alex yelled from across the field. Beedrill created purple blobs in the air and sent them flying towards Onix.

She didn't move as each one hit her.

Zack frowned. The attack hadn't seemed to do anything.

He checked his Pokedex. Onix had lost 3 HP.

Poison-type attacks did one-fourth of the normal damage against Onix. Zack doubted Alex would use that move again.

"Rock Throw then Smack Down!"

Alex yelled something to Beedrill that Zack couldn't make out.

Onix hurled a boulder at Alex's Pokémon, who buzzed around it and rushed her with glowing spikes.

Beedrill was using Twineedle. Onix waited for him to get close enough, then used her tail to slam him into the ground.

Onix roared for effect, then- in that split second- fell on her face. It was so sad and funny at the same time that Zack almost laughed out loud despite the fact that she was his Pokémon.

Beedrill had gotten up with extreme speed and used Fury Attack on her tail, and was now miming punches at Zack's Pokémon.

Zack checked his Pokedex. Both Pokémon were at somewhat low HP.

Alex must have noticed it too. They recalled their Pokémon at the same time, and sent out Weepinbell and Slowpoke.

"Power Whip!" Zack shouted. Weepinbell's leaves elongated and glowed, and he sprung towards Slowpoke in the hope of close combat.

"Disable!" Alex yelled. Slowpoke made his adorable noise, and Weepinbell's leaves stopped glowing, much to Zack's frustration.

"Energy Ball!"

Weepinbell shot a ball of green light at Slowpoke, landing a direct hit. Slowpoke got up, shook its head, and yawned.

"Oh, great." Zack muttered to himself.

"Confusion!" Alex called.

Slowpoke's eyes glowed blue, and Weepinbell became outlined in the same glow.

Weepinbell shot up in the air, and the glow dissolved. Zack's Pokémon was free-falling through the air, but at the last moment, Slowpoke's eyes glowed blue again and Weepinbell hovered an inch above the ground.

Then he slammed down with the force of Slowpoke's psychic power.

"And here I was thinking Slowpoke was going easy." Zack said, grinning to himself. Then, he called, "Poison Powder!" Weepinbell shot a clump of purple powder out of his mouth that settled over Slowpoke.

Zack frowned. Why hadn't Slowpoke avoided that?

Then he realized: Slowpoke was asleep. He had put himself to sleep with his own yawn.

"Energy Ball!" Weepinbell shot another light-green ball at Slowpoke, who didn't move as the attack hit him.

Alex recalled Slowpoke and sent out Beedrill. The Poison Bee Pokémon mimed the punches again.

Zack curveballed Onix's Pokeball to the center of the battlefield, right behind Beedrill. The Rock Snake Pokémon appeared in a flash of white light and roared.

"Curse then Gyro Ball!" Zack yelled.

"Twineedle!"

Beedrill's spikes glowed purple.

Onix became surrounded by streaks of white light.

Suddenly, she turned around and slammed into Beedrill's abdomen.

They crashed to the ground.

Zack looked at Bugsy, crossing his fingers.

Seven seconds passed.

"Beedrill is unable to battle. The winner is Zack Austin."

Everyone cheered.

Alex ran over to Zack after the two recalled their Pokémon. "Nice battle. It was really close. And now, you're at least going to get runner-up."

Zack's friend had always been a good sport, even though he could tell Alex was disappointed.

Zack sat on the bench, and after a clap on the back, Alex went to sit in spectators' stands.

"Congratulations to Zack." Bugsy's voice echoed over the microphone. "Now, the next battle is Lyn and Liam LeBrusco."

 _Oh, this will be fun to watch._

 **Zack**

"Go!" Bugsy yelled.

Liam sent out Arbok, and Lyn sent out Mightyena.

"Fire Fang!" The two triplets yelled at the same time.

Arbok and Mightyena rushed at each other, but when they were close, neither of them used Fire Fang.

Arbok sprung to the right, its teeth crackling with electricity.

Mightyena lunged forward, its teeth so cold they would freeze steel.

The two Pokémon tackled each other, biting and growling and hissing.

Instead of Fire Fang, Mightyena had used Ice Fang and Arbok had used Thunder Fang.

"These two have some tricks up their sleeves." Zack said to no one in particular, seeing he was the only person still on the bench.

He peered at Liam's gloved hand. There was some sort of black-and-red stone embedded in the wristband, but Zack decided it wasn't important and focused back on the battle.

"Acid." Liam said. Arbok shot a stream of muddy purple liquid at Mightyena, who jumped to the side as the attack went past.

Mightyena roared, and Arbok was sucked back into its Pokeball. Liam was forced to send out Houndour.

"Inferno!" Liam yelled.

 _No way._

Houndour sucked in air, then opened its mouth to blast massive fire at Mightyena, scorching all the trees on the field. The attack hit Mightyena, burning it and damaging it severely. Lyn recalled it.

Salandit appeared in a flash of white light and immediately shot a beam of blue light at Houndour.

Dragon Rage. The attack missed, but Salandit used it a second time and hit Houndour, leaving it with low HP.

"Beat Up!" Liam called. This attack didn't do too much damage since Liam had only 2 Pokémon with him, but it still got Houndour close enough for another attack.

Arbok appeared right next to Houndour and they lunged at Salandit, Arbok and Houndour each attacking it once.

As Arbok disappeared back into its Pokeball, Houndour's fangs sparked with lightning. It lunged at Salandit, who knocked the attack aside with its tail, then retaliated with Ember.

Ember hadn't done much, but it distracted Houndour enough for Salandit to use Double Slap on its face.

Whistling at the close call, Liam recalled Houndour and sent out Arbok, who used Thunder Fang on Salandit. That ended the match.

"Salandit is unable to battle. Liam LeBrusco wins this match." Bugsy said.

The crowd cheered, but it was somewhat muted. No one really knew the triplets.

"Zack and Liam, go heal your Pokémon, then we'll start the championship match! Good luck!"

Zack shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Onix might be able to take Houndour because of the type advantage, but Arbok could be a problem. The Ice Fang and Fire Fang would be hard to beat with Weepinbell.

He sprinted out of the Gym and ran down the road to the Pokémon Center. A colony of Weedles watched him as he went by.

Zack opened the door to the Pokémon Center. Liam was already there.

 _How?_ _I thought_ _I was the first one to leave the Gym._

Zack rubbed his neck as he walked up to the front. He took both Pokeballs off his belt and handed them to Nurse Joy, trying to ignore Liam, who was watching him curiously.

"You know that Weepinbell is extremely powerful, right?" Liam said, watching Weepinbell's Pokeball disappear into the back room.

Zack nodded. "Yeah. It knows a move that most Weepinbell never learn." he said, trying not to give away anything about his strategy.

"Power Whip." Liam said, apparently having paid attention to the previous battles.

 _Shoot._

"Uh... yeah. Um, good luck." Zack said, trying to end the conversation as soon as possible.

He took his Pokémon from the outstretched hands of Nurse Joy, and sprinted out of the Center, back towards the Azalea Town Gym.

"Onix," Zack said to her Pokeball as he ran. "You're going to be my ace in this battle. I need you to trust what I say, ok? Because you have the type advantage over both of them. And watch out for Ice Fang from that Arbok."

He jogged up the stairs, wanting to talk to someone before the match started.

Zack spotted him. "Professor Elm!" he called, and the professor turned around.

Elm had a small smile on his face as he said, "Nice job. I've already told Alex this, but you have officially earned your Pokedex. But hey, now you're in it to win it."

Zack smiled. "I'll try to do just that."

He sat down on the bench as Elm walked back to the front of the Gym.

Liam jogged in the door, juggling three Pokeballs.

 _Wait... three?_

Then Liam tossed one of them to Levi, who was standing nearby.

Zack's final opponent walked up to him. "Good luck." Liam said, then turned his voice to a whisper. "You'll need it."

Liam took his place at the other side of the field.

"The winner of this battle gets the prize, then battles me. Trainers ready..." Bugsy announced.

Zack unclipped a Pokeball from his belt.

"Go!"

Zack used a trick he had used before. He threw Onix's ball to the other side of the field, where she appeared in a flash of white light and roared.

"Gyro Ball!" Onix spun like a bullet, making white streaks roll off the spine on her head. She then slammed into Houndour, hurling the Dark Pokémon across the field.

But then, it got up and roared. Onix was suddenly sucked back into her Pokeball, and Weepinbell was sent out.

After a confusing moment, Weepinbell waited for Zack's command.

"Energy Ball!" he yelled.

The attack wouldn't do much but it would occupy Liam long enough to send Onix back out.

Or so he thought.

As the ball of green energy shot towards Houndour, it dodged the energy and breathed fire towards Weepinbell, burning him.

Zack gasped and sent Onix back out. Without command, she launched a volley of rocks towards Houndour.

He laughed a bit. "Well, at least that keeps Houndour occupied. Keep it up, Onix."

He turned his attention towards his other Pokémon. Weepinbell was badly burned and at low health. Zack wouldn't be using him any more in this battle.

A few of the boulders had hit Houndour, so Liam recalled it and sent out Arbok.

"Alright, use Curse!" he shouted to Onix, who was twenty feet taller than him. This was the one disadvantage to having a big, tall Pokémon: yelling was mandatory.

Purple and red lights rose from Onix's body, and she roared.

Zack crossed his fingers. He had quickly gotten rid of Smack Down and taught Onix a new move at the Pokémon Center, and if it failed, he would lose the battle.

That, he was sure of.

"Now..." Zack yelled.

Onix looked back at him and nodded. She sucked in air.

"DRAGON BREATH!"

Onix opened her mouth- wide- and shot out a beam of blue, yellow, and green light that struck Arbok in the back of the tail.

The Cobra Pokémon was struggling to get up. Zack looked at Bugsy hopefully.

Bugsy shook his head, shrugging apologetically.

Liam exhaled and recalled Arbok, sending out Houndour again.

 _Lucky._

The Dark Pokémon whimpered, making Liam laugh.

Wait... why was he laughing?

Houndour was engulfed in a white light, the whimpering turning to fierce growling.

 _No. No, no, no._

Zack started to flex his fingers, something he only did when he was nervous or scared. The excitement of the battle made him forget something very important- if you scared a Pokémon, they would stop evolving.

The white light that had been floating started to lower back to the ground.

Onix roared and waved her tail threateningly.

And a Houndoom lunged forward, Onix readied herself for an attack.

One that never came.

Houndoom roared, forcing Onix back into her Pokeball.

Weepinbell appeared, and Zack knew what Liam was doing.

"Inferno!"

"Power Whip!" Zack yelled desperately.

Houndoom inhaled and knocked out Weepinbell with a short but powerful blast of fire.

"Weepinbell is unable to battle. Liam LeBrusco is the champion. Congratulations." Bugsy announced.

Zack had lost.

And Liam had won.


	14. The Embarking

**Zack**

Disappointed in himself, Zack walked off the field. (Where all the boulders had somehow disappeared.)

Alex and Lea had rushed from the stands to clap Zack on the shoulder.

"You got runner-up. That's still really good." they said, trying to comfort him.

"Can we have Zack and Liam back up here, please?" Professor Elm's voice echoed throughout the Gym.

Zack walked back to the field, Liam jogging past him with a wink.

"Congratulations to both of these trainers. They have shown everyone here their skill. And now, we will present the prizes."

While Elm was putting the evolution stones on the table in front of them, Liam nudged Zack's shoulder.

"I didn't even have to use this." Liam said, motioning to the black-and-red stone embedded in his glove.

Zack was about to ask about it, but was interrupted by Professor Elm.

"How about a round of applause for these two?"

Everyone cheered again.

When the noise died down, Elm continued.

"Zack Austin is the runner-up of the tournament, so he will receive one of each Evolution Stone." he said, handing Zack a carrying case.

Embedded in the case was each of the Evolution Stones: Fire, Water, Thunder, Leaf, Sun, Moon, Dusk, Dawn, Shiny, and Ice. He gratefully accepted the runner-up prize, albeit disappointed.

"And Liam LeBrusco is the Champion of the Azalea Town Tournament, so he will be receiving the full Evolution Stone set by the Silph Co. Remember, this consists of five Water Stones, five Thunder Stones, five Fire Stones, four Leaf Stones, two Moon Stones, two Sun Stones, two Shiny Stones, two Dusk Stones, two Dawn Stones, and one Ice Stone. Congratulations."

"Now, I'd like everyone that won their first battle to come back up here."

Lea, along with Alex, Brent, Chase, Lyn, and Levi left their place in the stands and walked up to the front.

"They all get the Hive Badge!" Bugsy gave the Badge of the Azalea Gym to Liam, Zack and the other six trainers.

The Professor then said, "The Tournament is over! Thank you all for coming, and..."

Zack wasn't listening to the rest. He was thinking about his prize, what he could use, and what he could give to someone.

The Moon Stone would go to Brent, for his Nidorino to evolve into Nidoking.

The Shiny Stone would go to Grace, for her Togetic to evolve into Togekiss.

The Dusk Stone could go to Mitchell for his Murkrow, but Zack had a feeling he would need to keep it somehow.

He spotted Brent across the Gym, and ran over to him.

"Hey, Brent."

"Hey, nice job, Zack! Those Stones you earned will be helpful for you." Brent said cheerfully after finishing the conversation with his parents.

"Thanks. Oh, and, how'd you like one?" Zack said, handing Brent the Moon Stone out of the case.

Brent's eyes grew wide, and he covered his mouth with his free hand.

"You just gave me a huge advantage. Thank you so much..." He said, trailing off.

Brent suddenly gave Zack a quick hug, then ran off to tell someone.

Grace's reaction was a bit different, but not by much. She had actually given him a kiss on the cheek.

Zack turned on his Pokegear.

 _Meet me at the house._ he sent to his parents, then

 _Can you and your parents meet us at my house?_

to Alex and Lea.

Zack sprinted out the door of the Gym, stopping at the Pokémon Center a few minutes to get more information about the Evolution Stones he had left. Then, he jogged back to his house.

Instead of going in the front door, he ran around to the backyard. After closing the gate, he tossed Onix's Pokeball on the ground.

The Rock Snake Pokémon appeared and looked at Zack questioningly.

"C'mon, girl. Let's start our journey."

 **Alex**

"Hey, Bugsy!" Alex called, jogging up to the Gym leader.

Bugsy turned. "Oh, yeah, Alex. Sorry, I almost forgot. Let's go outside the Gym."

As they walked outside, Bugsy patted Alex on the shoulder.

"You seem like you know the guy that won, and you're nervous about it."

"That's pretty accurate."

"What is it?"

Alex told Bugsy about the triplets and their mysterious parents from Team Magma, and what Lea had told him about what they planned to use the Stones for.

"I'll look into that later. I have to battle that Liam guy later today, anyway." Bugsy said.

"Alright, call out Beedrill, will ya? And your Pokedex, too, if you can."

"Yeah, sure."

Alex tossed Beedrill's Pokeball on the ground and took his Pokedex out of the pocket of his T-shirt.

At that moment, his Pokegear buzzed. Alex had a message from Zack.

He read it and replied, _Sure. Be there in a min._

"Oh, I see." Bugsy was saying, using the Pokedex. "He has the Sniper ability. That's why so many hits were powerful."

Alex nodded, knowing all of this already.

"But the reason I asked to talk to you is this. I'm looking for a trainer who can catch special Bug-type Pokémon for me on their journey, and I'd like it to be you. I asked the Professor, and he agreed."

Alex nodded at all of this. "Sure, I'll do it. But are you allowed to use Pokémon that I catch?"

"Yes. All Gym leaders are starting this program where we can have one trainer to help us during their journey. The trainer fills in for me if they can whenever I can't be at the Gym. But, as far as I know, I'm the only Gym leader with a 'partner', as they call it."

Alex grinned. "Sure, that sounds great." he said, starting to walk away.

"You haven't even heard the good part." Bugsy said behind him.

Alex turned around. "This gets better?" he said, already very happy with what Bugsy had said.

Bugsy nodded. "For each Pokémon that I request and you send to me, I will give you a certain Item, provided by the Pokémon Association. Within reason, of course. But, just so you know, these Pokémon will be hard to catch, and you can't use my Great Balls. The first one is Pinsir."

Alex nodded, understanding. He had done a lot of that in the past day.

"We'll keep in touch with the Pokegear you have. Thanks, Alex." Bugsy said, waving.

Alex waved back, then turned around and sprinted towards Zack's house.

When he got there, everyone (including his parents) was already there.

"Sorry I'm late." Alex said as he walked in, out of breath.

Zack shot him a thumbs-up. "You're fine."

Then, he turned to everyone there. "The reason I've asked you all to come here is that I have an idea." Zack started.

"Shocker." Alex muttered jokingly, just loud enough to be audible.

"I heard that, Alex." Zack said, then continued. "I think we should start our journey today."

Silence.

"Is that okay with everyone?"

Zack's parents nodded.

So did Alex's. Alex mouthed _thanks_ to them from across the room.

Lea's mother raised a hand. "Is it just you three?"

"Yes. By the way, I've sent a copy of what I think our routes will look like to y'all through our Pokégears, but I'm sure we won't go exactly by it."

Now Lea's dad raised his hand.

"What's the goal of this?" He said, not a little bluntly.

"We're going to try to defeat all the Gym leaders and the Elite Four. Of course, there can only be one Champion, so we'll see who's better at that point. But yeah, that's that in a nutshell." Zack explained.

Lea's parents nodded. "Then it's ok with us."

At that, Alex lost the quiet demeanor. "So we're finally starting our journey? YES!"

Then, of course, he remembered his manners at a sharp look from his mother. "But, um... I'll miss you guys, of course."

Alex's Pokegear started to buzz. He looked at it.

 _Swarm on Route 34 spotted,_ it said.

Alex started to form an idea in his head. "How about we pack up all the stuff we'll use into one backpack each, then we try everything out on... let's say... Route 34?"

Zack looked at him, smirking a bit. He had just received the same warning on his Pokegear, so he knew what Alex was up to.

The parents all agreed with what Alex said.

"Alright, then. Let's start packing."

 **Lea**

Lea jogged to the front door of her house and unlocked it. She couldn't wait for her journey!

Rushing into her room, she grabbed the obvious things and stuffed them into her bag, like a sleeping bag, extra clothes, extra Pokeballs, and her own tent.

She didn't doubt they would be camping along the way, just because Zack and Alex both loved sleeping in tents. Lea didn't know why.

As she was stuffing her tent canvas into her bag, something caught her eye.

It was that yellow-and-red stone that Savvy had given her that day at Union Cave. Lea shrugged and put it in her pocket.

Her mom walked in the room. "Hey, honey. We have a little something for you.

"It's some money that we think will help. Oh, and a few Great Balls for some special Pokémon."

Lea smiled and stepped forward to hug her mother. "Thanks, Mom."

 **Alex**

Alex folded his trainer gear and placed it in his backpack.

"Hey, mom?" He called downstairs. "Where'd you put my hat again?"

Then he realized his hat was on his head.

"Nevermind!"

He packed his extra Pokéball belt, extra gloves, and zipped up the backpack.

Alex slung it over his shoulder, jogging downstairs to his kitchen.

"Hey, Dad, I'm going to go meet up with Lea and Zack."

"Okay. Hey, wait a moment." His father said, hustling over to the master bedroom.

He appeared again a second later, holding a box.

"What's this?" Alex said, taking the box.

"It's from your sister. She gave this to us right before she left for her job, and told us to give it to you when you started your journey." his dad replied.

"Oh, cool. How's Maggie doing?"

"She's enjoying her new job at a PokéMart in Blackthorn City."

Alex opened the box. It was a set of Revives, Potions, and Berries. There was also a note.

 _Hope this helps! See you seen!_

 _-Maggie_

Alex smiled. When they got to Blackthorn City, he would be able to see his sister.

He hugged his dad's neck.

"Thanks, dad. Love you."

With that, Alex jogged out the door.

 **Zack**

Zack grinned as he clipped Onix and Weepinbell's Pokeballs to his belt. They were finally starting their journey!

"Hey, bud?" His dad knocked on the door of his bedroom.

"Yeah?" Zack said.

"We just got something in the mail. It's from your brother, to you."

"Great! We haven't heard from Caleb in, like, five months."

"On the box, it says for only you to see and have what's inside."

 _Huh. That's unusual._

Throwing his backpack on his shoulder, Zack walked into the kitchen and saw a metal-and-glass cylinder on the counter, about as wide as his head.

He picked it up. It was surprisingly light.

He would look inside once he was on Route 34. "Okay. Thanks, dad."

With that, he walked out he door to meet his friends.

"Everyone ready?" Zack called, spotting Alex and Lea from a distance.

Lea gave him a thumbs-up.

 **Route 34**

As they walked out of Ilex Forest, Zack quietly turned on his Pokégear.

 _Tell me when you see the swarm._

He texted Alex. After a few seconds, Zack's friend nudged his shoulder and gave him an OK sign.

"So, do you think we'll eventually go to different regions?" Alex said to no one in particular. "I mean, if we're all going to be a Champion, then two of us will have to go to a different region."

Zack smiled at him. "Cross that bridge when we get there, Alex. For now, we're sticking together."

As they walked, Zack noticed that his backpack was a bit heavier than when he had left the house. Not by much, but enough to be noticeable.

"Hey, hold up a minute." he said, setting his bag on the ground and unzipping it.

 _This thing?_

Zack took the cylinder out of his bag and put it on the ground.

"Yeah, that's definitely it." The gift from his brother had gotten heavier than when Zack had first picked it up. It wasn't very light anymore.

"Zack, do you know what that is?" It was Lea.

"I'm about to open it." He replied. There was a note on top of he cylinder.

 _Whirl Islands_ , it read. Zack frowned. Was that in Johto?

He unscrewed the top and took it off. He looked inside.

It was a Pokémon Egg.

"You have to be really careful with those, even in an incubator." Alex said. Alex had done a school project about Eggs, so he knew a decent amount of stuff about them.

"This... this is great. I can't believe this is an Egg. Wow, Caleb, I can't believe it..." Zack said happily.

"Um, Zack?" Alex said, but Zack didn't notice.

"Now I technically have another Pokémon already. This is awesome."

"Hello?"

"A Pokémon Egg..."

"Zack, the swarm is right in front of us."

That did it.

Zack snapped out of his daydream to see about twenty Ralts watching him with smiles on their faces.

He screwed the top back onto the incubator. "What made them come out?"

"It was you, actually." Lea said, scanning a Ralts with her Pokédex. "They're attracted to happiness."

"Well, there is a lot of that around me at the moment."

One particular Ralts was watching Zack with an astonished look on its face. As he waved at all of them, it ran up to him and raised its arms like it wanted to be picked up.

"Okay, then." Zack picked up the Ralts and held it eye-level. As he did this, its horns started to glow.

Zack almost dropped it. "He's reading your emotions." Lea said, and Zack realized all the other Ralts were doing the same.

Alex was watching them, probably trying to figure out which one to try to catch. Zack motioned towards him, making a _chill_ signal with his free hand.

The Ralts in Zack's hand suddenly jumped towards him, landing on his shoulder. He then hugged Zack's neck and didn't let go.

"I guess you're right. They are attracted to happiness." he said, tapping a Pokéball to the Ralts's back.

The light on the ball blinked, then it clicked.

"Which is something I seem to keep getting more of."

 **Alex**

As Zack caught the Ralts, the others' horns glowed brighter and brighter, detecting even more happiness from Zack.

"Awesome, Zack, you caught your third Pokémon. You wanna go fishing so I can too?" Alex said jokingly.

But then he realized- he didn't have his fishing pole.

"Shoot, shoot, shoot." Alex said, running his fingers through his hair.

The group of Ralts started to back away, the glow from their horns fading.

"What is it?" Lea asked, Zack still admiring his new Pokémon's ball.

"I didn't bring my Super Rod."

"Remember, we're going back anyway. This was just a test to see how we'd hold up."

"Okay. Let's start heading back, then. I'll forget again if we keep going." Alex said.

Zack's happiness and Alex's frustration had canceled each other out, so the Ralts had disappeared back into the surrounding bushes. They were no longer attracted to Zack.

Alex sighed. "Sorry, Lea. I'm guessing you wanted a Ralts too."

"Just a little." came the reply.

Wanting to occasionally break up the silence, Alex said, "Well then, sorry, Lea, and congrats, Zack."

"It's ok." Lea said.

Zack had scanned Ralts with his Pokédex as they walked. "It's a boy, it's level 14, and his moves are Confusion, Disarming Voice, Double Team, and Teleport."

"Cool." Alex said mindlessly, thinking about the Pokémon he wanted to catch on their journey.

 _Maybe a Ditto? A Pinsir for Bugsy, obviously, but something else..._

His thoughts were cut off as he walked into a tree. They had arrived at the entrance to Ilex Forest.

Zack burst out laughing as Alex shook his head, startled. "Did the tree need a hug? Or did you?"

"Alex was obviously looking for Pokémon in the tree." Lea said jokingly, softly punching his arm. "Right, Alex?"

Alex wasn't listening. He was looking at the ground a few feet away. There was a device on the ground with a picture of a sunset on the front.

He tossed the device to Lea. "What's that?" Alex asked.

After she looked it over, she replied, "I don't know. I'll give it to the professor."

They kept walking quietly until they got to Azalea Town.

 **Lea**

"So, is everything all right? Nothing else you need?" Lea's mother asked anxiously.

"Alex needs his fishing pole, but otherwise, we're good."

"Okay, honey. Do you have your food?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Keep us updated, will you?" Her mother requested.

"Of course I will, mom. Love you." Lea said, hugging her briefly before jogging to meet Zack.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Yeah." She confirmed.

"Now we just need Alex and his fishing rod."

They sat, waiting, until Alex ran up to them.

"Well then, let's go." He said.

"Where to?" Lea asked, not having checked the map that Zack had sent the group.

"Violet City."

 **Part I- Azalea Town- Finished**

 **Part II Coming Soon!**

 _Badges- Hive Badge_

 _ **Zack** 's Pokémon-_

 _Onix- level 25_

 _Weepinbell- level 22_

 _Ralts- level 14_

 _Egg- ?_

 ** _Alex_** _'s Pokémon-_

 _Beedrill- level 23_

 _Slowpoke- level 18_

 ** _Lea_** _'s Pokémon-_

 _Henry (Skiploom)- level 23_

 _Savvy (Sandslash)-level 23_

 ** _Liam_** _'s Pokémon-_

 _Houndoom- level 24_

 _Arbok- level 24_

 ** _Levi_** _'s_ _Pokémon-_

 _Honchkrow- level 23_

 _Golbat- level 23_

 ** _Lyn_** _'s_ _Pokémon-_

 _Mightyena- level 24_

 _Salandit- level 21_


	15. The Pool

**Part II**

 **Lea**

After dropping off the strange sunset device with the professor, Lea, Alex, and Zack started their trek to Violet Town.

"So Bugsy told me to catch a Pokémon for him." Alex said. Route 33 was small and didn't have many Pokémon that seemed powerful, so none of them were exactly on their toes.

"Really, Alex? What kind?" Zack said as he organized his bag. Weepinbell bounced on his shoulder, happily enjoying the fresh air.

"A Pinsir. I honestly kinda want one for myself, but I don't need two crazy-powerful Bug Pokémon." responded Alex, making Beedrill buzz happily in his ball. "Bugsy said that all the leaders were doing a sort of program that used a trainer to help them catch Pokémon of their type and be the Gym leader when they weren't able to." He frowned. "Or something like that."

"Yeah, I guess leaders can't really get out much unless they close their Gym for a while." Lea was letting her two Pokémon walk (and fly) beside her.

"Wait, so every leader is picking a trainer? I wonder if that means Lea and I could partner with one." Zack murmured.

"Which leader would you want? As far as we've heard, there are seven Gyms still available, so you can still choose from Falkner, Whitney, Morty, Chuck, Jasmine, Pryce, or Clair." Lea named, counting them off with her fingers.

"Flying, Normal, Ghost, Fighting, Steel, Ice, or Dragon," responded Zack, copying her. "Not a big fan of Normal or Ghost, but everything else is possible."

"No Fighting or Dragon for me," Lea said, "but yeah, I would enjoy any others."

"What, are those too powerful for you?" he teased. He nudged Alex, who still looked somewhat distressed. "What's up?"

Alex looked up, wringing his hands together. "Now that you name all those, I feel like Bug was one of the weakest options. I mean, of course they have some strong Pokémon, but they'd have no chance against Fighting or Steel."

Zack frowned, bewildered. "Were you mentally asleep when Beedrill knocked out Onix with one move? See, I seem to recall you jumping around and laughing in my face. Of course, it could have been a dream-"

"Oh, shush. Yeah, I guess they can be powerful. But really, I'm worried about one of you getting a Steel or Fighting or Dragon leader or someone like that and then you'll be able to beat me no matter what. Because I have to have a full team of Bug-types for when Bugsy is gone and I take over the Gym, so if one of you gets a strong type, then you'll have six mega-powerful Pokémon to use. And I'll still have Bug-types."

Zack shook his head. "Wow, that was a lot. And I know that it's fun to have our competition, but has it occurred to you that neither me nor Lea might get a partnership? Heck, we might have to settle for Champion or something like that."

Alex rolled his eyes. "Imagine the horror."

After being quiet and listening to the boys, the other member of their group piped up, pointing. "Hey, there's Union Cave. I think we should stop and feed our Pokémon before going through, just because we could easily be in there a while." Lea sat down on the side of the road, pulled out two bags of Pokémon food, and poured them into little bowls. "Not that Union Cave could ever surprise us, right Zack?"

He rolled his eyes, which seemed to be becoming a trend. "Everything scary that's happened to me this week has happened in a dark cave. This one obviously qualifies."

"But now you have Onix." Alex reminded him. "She probably knows her way around in there. She did live there, you know."

"Hey, yeah. That could help."

The Rock Snake appeared and roared deafeningly. Zack sighed.

"Still gotta work on that timing," he muttered to no one in particular.

As he brought out his other two Pokémon, he realized- he hadn't planned to catch a Pokémon this soon into their journey, so he didn't have food for Ralts.

Zack was about to bring it up when he saw Ralts eating out of Slowpoke's bowl. He sighed in relief.

 _Psychic-types. Perfect._

Alex came up and sat next to him. "It's already 5:30. We should get as far as we can through the cave and then set up camp. Hopefully, though, with Onix and Savvy, we can make good time. Sound good?"

Zack nodded, then walked over to pick up Ralts. The Fairy- and Psychic-type had eaten his own share of food, then had started to sneak some of Slowpoke's.

As Weepinbell finished the last of his food, Zack got up and stretched.

"I'm going to check on the Egg, then we should be ready to go. You two might want to recall your other Pokémon, I think Savvy will be able to lead us. If they're finished eating, of course."

He opened his bag up and pulled out the incubator. As he gazed at the egg, he started to notice the smallest hairline crack in the Egg. According to Alex and his school project, that left about three to four days until it completely hatched.

But the other two didn't need to know about it just yet.

 **Alex**

Alex tossed flashlights at the other two as they entered the mouth of the cave. He shone his on a sleeping Zubat. "So if we don't make it through the cave by, like, nightfall, then we can set up tents in a corner or something."

Lea snorted. "While all of that sounds _so_ appealing, I'd rather not sleep in a damp cave on the floor where plenty of wild Pokémon are less than ten feet away."

Alex grinned, inwardly laughing at how fast Lea had turned from a fierce battler to a girly girl. "How about you get your nails done once we get to the five-star hotel? Would that make it acceptable, ma'am?" he said with a playful bow, laughing as she flicked his ear.

"Hey, lovebirds-" "-shut up-" "come over here and check this out real quick. Lots of Pokémon over here."

The two jogged to where Zack was kneeling over a deep pool.

"None of us have a Water-type yet, right?" he asked, motioning for them to look in. They could see Tentacool and Tentacruel gliding around, Corsola and Krabby on the floor, Staryu and Goldeen spinning in the currents, and even a Quagsire nestled in the sand.

"Wow..." Alex reached down into the water to try to touch some that came close.

But a few seconds after he did that, a small vibration went through the water, making all the Pokémon swim away and hide. And then he saw what had appeared at the bottom of the pool. He removed his arm from the water like he had been electrocuted.

"Alex? Is something wrong?" Lea asked, tapping him on the head.

Alex looked up at her and Zack, whose faces described the anxiety he was experiencing. "Get out Henry and Weepin-"

FSHOOM!

They were all blown back by an eruption of water from the pool. Alex felt a hand pull him back on his feet and brush him off. Zack patted him on the shoulder, simultaneously calling out Weepinbell.

"You good?"

Alex nodded. A little bump wouldn't stop him from catching this.

"This thing is HUGE!" Lea shouted from the other side of the cavern. She tossed Henry's Pokéball at the Pokémon that had appeared from the pool.

"Whoa! I kinda want a Kingler!" Zack said in excitement, his face lighting up.

But all the excitement was scaring the big Kingler. In fact, it actually seemed quite calm, possibly even scared by the three Trainers.

Alex noticed this and waved to the other two. They both put a hand on their Pokémon to stop them from attacking.

"This thing is just a guardian," he said. "It doesn't want to fight us."

" _She_ doesn't want to fight us." Zack said, scanning the Kingler with his Pokédex.

As they all watched, the big Water-type slowly turned and submerged itself back into the pool. Lea rushed to look back in the pool.

"Yeah, Alex, you were right! I can see a group of cute little Krabbies under a rock down there. She was just protecting them from the big, scary guy who stuck his arm in the water."

Weepinbell giggled as Zack recalled him. "See, it always happens in caves."

Ralts appeared and jumped onto Lea's shoulder, peering down into the pool. She grinned.

Zack laughed. "Traitor."

"Madam, if you would like to have your evening tea, then we must get going or we'll never make it to the 5-star hotel." Alex reminded Lea mockingly.

"Yeah, we should probably get a move on. That Kingler took up six minutes by itself." she said, looking at her Pokégear. "Oh, and by the way, did Brent tell you that he started his journey as well? He's going the Goldenrod route and already caught an Abra on Route 34."

Alex nodded. "What about Trent?" he asked, remembering the twin brother.

Lea looked back at her Pokégear. "According to Brent, he had to leave late because he still had to battle Bugsy for the Hive Badge. Remember, he lost his first match? But anyways, he went the Violet City route. That should mean he's somewhere in Route 33 behind us."

"Aw, they're both alone? That's kinda sad." Zack said, motioning for Ralts to return to him.

"Nope, Grace and Chase went with Brent. Trent went with Chloe and Mitchell."

Alex laughed. "Imagine meeting up with both of their groups and doing, like, a giant battle."

"Like a triple triple battle?"

"Yeah. That'd be hilariously amazing."

The group proceeded through the cave without any more attacks or excitement. At about 8:40, they made it out of Union Cave, ready to set out their tents on Route 32.


	16. The Entrance

**Zack**

As he took the tent out of his bag, Zack realized that his bag was almost two times heavier. The strap had been cutting into his shoulder. He set it down carefully, remembering the Egg inside.

He pulled the incubator out. This was _definitely_ what was causing the increasing weight. It weighed at least 150 pounds.

"Caleb, why'd you have to give me such a heavy Egg?" he muttered to himself. "What is this, a Wailmer?"

 _Wait... is it?_

 **The next day**

When they woke up, the sun was already up and shining. "What time is it?" Alex mumbled, rolling out of the tent and stretching.

Zack yawned, turning on his Pokégear. "Almost 9 o'clock."

"Dang, I never sleep that late. You think Henry drugged us?" Alex joked, grabbing his hair gel from his bag.

"If he did, then I'll thank him when I see him. I slept eleven hours, Alex. _Eleven._ That's a lot, especially for me."

"Yeah. Hey, is Her Highness awake?" Alex asked, starting to grin.

"Don't think so," came the response from the tent. Zack was busy brushing his hair and washing his face.

"Well then, you might want to come watch." Alex whispered to him.

 _Oh, no._

Zack crawled out of the tent, still shirtless, wearing the shorts he slept in.

"What are you about to do?" he whispered back, watching as Slowpoke was called out.

"She's slept long enough, wouldn't you say?" Alex said before whispering a short command in Slowpoke's ear.

"Well, I mean-"

"Hey, eleven hours. That's a really, _really_ long time to sleep."

They both turned to watch the magic unfold.

Slowpoke trotted over to the tent, picked it up psychically, jumped inside, and proceeded to spray Lea in the face with a Water Gun.

The pressure was equal to about a garden hose, so it was obviously not the one that Slowpoke would use in a Pokémon battle. But it was absolutely enough to wake Lea.

Surprisingly, she didn't make much noise after being woken up. No scream. Just a small, barely audible "You will pay."

While Alex rolled around on the ground laughing, Henry floated out of the tent, carrying Slowpoke. As they watched, Henry used Sleep Powder on Slowpoke, dropped him next to Alex, and happily floated back to Lea to recieve an extra treat.

Zack shook his head, smiling. As if the little pink Pokémon didn't sleep enough already.

 **Lea**

Once everything was packed up and ready, the three Trainers started to walk down Route 32. Lea kept an eye on her Pokégear, making sure to pass along updates from Brent or any of their other friends. Sure, the boys got the same messages from their friends, but they didn't check their Pokégears near as often.

With Slowpoke asleep in Alex's bag, Lea had started to plan ways to get back at the pair. Slowpoke had already been done with Sleep Powder, but Alex would need a much more intense plan of revenge.

Her Pokégear buzzed. It was Zack.

How about an Onix roar at 8 in the morning?

Apparently, he was thinking along the same lines.

Actually, she replied, I was thinking more of a Pokémon sitting on him. Like a big one. But the Onix roar wouldn't be a bad backup plan.

A few seconds later, Zack texted back a thumbs-up and Lea saw him turn off his Pokégear.

This was going to be an entertaining journey.

Just then, they heard a squeal. It had come from the woods off to their left.

"Something's hurt." Zack said as he grabbed Ralts's ball. They slowly walked in the direction of the sound, staying silent so they wouldn't scare it further.

When Lea got to a clearing, she gasped. There, trapped under a weighted net, was a Mareep struggling to get out.

Alex quickly rushed to take the net off while Ralts calmed the wild Pokémon down.

She was a fairly big Mareep, at least two and a half feet tall. It looked like she had been trying everything to get the net off, from electrocuting it to biting and scratching.

"We're about half an hour away from Violet City." Alex informed them, petting the Mareep's nose. "D'you think we should bring her to the Pokémon Center there?"

"Not if she isn't hurt." Zack replied.

"But it's a metal net. If she's been electrocuting the net, then she's been hitting herself."

Lea frowned. "Shouldn't her Ability be Lightning Rod?" She scanned Mareep. "Nope, I guess not. It's Static."

Alex picked up the Wool Pokémon, unzipped Lea's bag, and promptly dropped her into the biggest pocket.

"Why my bag? I mean, she's cute and all, but why can't you carry her?" Lea asked, trying to move stuff around to make her new hitchhiker comfortable.

"Zack's bag is full with the Egg and Stones, and my bag currently is housing a certain sleeping Pokémon."

"Guys, let's get going. Mareep is still hurt." Zack reminded his friends.

"Shouldn't we grab the net and bring it with us? We can try to find out why it was there." asked Lea.

Alex rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, but can we not pick up anything else? We're going to need a little wagon soon."

"Not a bad idea, actually." Zack inserted as they started walking towards Violet City. "Then I could get this Egg off my back. I swear it gets heavier with every step I take. I'm pretty sure it's a Wailmer."

"Wailmer don't normally live in Johto, do they?" Lea asked. "I can check, but I don't think they're supposed to live anywhere near here. In the wild, anyway."

"Okay, then maybe not."

The group walked without talking for a few minutes, the silence only broken occasionally by Mareep _baa_ ing.

The wild Pokémon on Route 32 were so calm and quiet. Lea saw a few Hoothoot, one or two Hoppip, and a cute Wooper that watched their group from under a bush.

There was a slight breeze and it was a nice temperature. It really was the perfect day to be traveling. Lea fed Mareep an Oran Berry, causing the Pokémon to nestle up to her neck.

As the group approached the entrance to Violet City, Alex piped up. "I got us a room for a night in a hotel in the middle of Violet. It's one of those places that lets in traveling Trainers for free. Not sure how good the room will be, but at least it'll have a bed for each of us."

Zack patted him on the back. "Thanks for remembering that. Anyways, one night should give us enough time to fight Falkner and explore a bit."

They walked up to the registration booth at the entrance. A mechanical guard sitting behind a desk looked at them. "Please return all Pokémon to their balls and scan them. All Pokemon that enter Violet City must have a ball to return to. Second, you will need to scan or create your Johto Pass. This is to ensure that all purchases and balances are kept up to date, as well as records of your current team and caught Pokémon."

Lea looked at the other two and shrugged. None of them had a Johto Pass, so they each had to make one.

The process was quick and easy- Alex and Zack scanned their two and three Pokéballs, with the latter scanning his incubator. Then they both typed in their necessary information. Once the machine had finished, it spit out two metal cards about the size of a trading card. Lea watched as they both grabbed one.

Zack started to read his out loud when he abruptly stopped and said, "Here, I got yours." He held it out to Alex.

Alex, however, was staring at Zack's pass. "Dude," he said, slowly pointing at the bottom of the card.

"What?"

"This has four Pokémon on it, and the last one definitely doesn't say Egg."

Zack grabbed his own card from Alex, shoving it into his pocket without looking. "I'll keep it a surprise."

"Well, now at least I know why you keep complaining that it's really heavy. Those things are 200 pounds when they're born!" Alex responded loudly.

Lea grinned; she was pretty sure she knew what it was. If she was right, Zack would have to buy a lot of Pokémon food soon.

She walked forward to scan Henry and Savvy's balls. When they both flashed green, she picked them up and walked through the barrier. Or at least tried to.

When it scanned Mareep, a metal bar twisted up and blocked her path. An automated voice said, "Please return all Pokémon to their Pokéballs."

Lea groaned. "Come on, we just need to get it to the Pokémon Center."

The voice repeated the message, and a light went off in her head.

She slowly pulled her bag off her shoulders and set it on the ground. Mareep _baa_ ed questioningly as Lea unzipped the second-biggest pocket.

She pulled out a Pokéball, enlarged it, and tapped it on Mareep.

The ball didn't even wobble in her hand. As soon as it closed, Mareep was caught.

The metal bar twisted back down as the voice said, "Please proceed to enter your personal information."

Still smiling with joy, Lea typed in her name, birthday, and the other things it asked for.

As she took her card from the slot, Alex asked, "So what'll it be? Sheepy?"

Lea inhaled, thinking deeply. "Why don't we ask her?"

She called out her newly caught Mareep as they walked out of the registration building. The Pokémon ran up to Alex and nuzzled him, then did the same to Zack.

"Isn't that how they recognize people?" Zack asked, putting Ralts back on his shoulder.

Lea shrugged. "So, Mareep, what do you want your name to be?"

Alex started to list names. "Sheepy, Wooly, Fluffy, Fuzzy, Mittens, Benny, Jenny, Carol, Susan, Martha..."

He looked at Lea, who had been ignoring him. "How about Minnie?" She asked, smiling at the Pokémon.

Minnie squeaked and nodded her head in approval. Lea then turned around, looking at her friend in disbelief. "Carol? What in the world?"

Zack just laughed. On his shoulder, Ralts's horns glowed brightly. They were all happy; they had made it to Violet Town- and with a new partner.


End file.
